Read the 2013 Defence White Paper [PDF 3 MB ]

The White Paper considers in detail the implications of the changing strategic circumstances in our region for Australia’s national security and defence, including:

• The ongoing strategic shift to our region, the Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean Rim, particularly the shift of economic weight to our region;
• The US re-balance to the Asia Pacific and Australia’s enhanced practical cooperation with the US pursuant to our 60-year-old Alliance relationship;
• The ADF’s operational drawdown from Afghanistan, Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands;
• Australia’s own Force Force Posture Review- the first in a quarter of a century; and
• The ongoing adverse effects of the Global Financial Crisis, which have continued to have a significant impact on the global economy.

Key points:

• Budget:  €364B  to 2025
  €179B for the period 2014-2019
• 2,300 strong Rapid Reaction Force capable of deployment within 7 days to distances up to about 2,000 miles
• Emphasis on special forces and cybersecurity
• 225 combat aircraft, 50+ transport aircraft,  7 AEW aircraft (4+3),  12 MRTTs,  12 MALE UAS, new light surveillance and reconnaisance aircraft and 8 SAM batteries
• Meteor integration,  NG LDP,  Mirage 2000D upgrades
• nEUROn maintained

First read:  is the French Air Force losing two TACAIR squadrons?    UK-France jointness critical to maintaining capabilities.  France may have to turn away from Germany and Southern European partners in order to maintain its traditional African/Mediterranean sphere of influence.

Ethiopian Airlines becomes first to resume flying grounded Dreamliner

Ethiopian Airlines has become the world’s first carrier to resume flying Boeing Co’s 787 Dreamliner passenger jets, landing the first commercial flight since the global fleet was grounded three months ago.

The Pentagon want to kill two birds with one stone.First, drones are all the rage in military circles. They can fly longer, don’t risk a pilot, and – sometimes – are even cheaper than manned aircraft.Secondly, aircraft carriers are increasingly viewed as floating bulls-eyes.  Solution: turn the Navy’s many smaller ships into mini-aircraft carriers with their own fleet of drones on board.  Continue reading

Lockheed Martin is revealing additional details about its submission for the US Navy’s unmanned carrier launched airbone surveillance and strike (UCLASS) aircraft programme, saying it has already built a full-scale mock-up of the flying wing design.

“We have a full-scale mock-up,” says Robert Ruszkowski, Lockheed’s ….continue reading at Flight

Last minute negotiations between the two parties.  We believe Defense News headline to be excessive in tone.

India’s negotiations with France’s Dassault Aviation on a $12-billion deal for Rafale fighter jets have stalled due to disagreements over the production of the planes in India, a report said Friday.The defense deal, one of the biggest ever, was to see the manufacture of the first 18 of the jets in France, with the remainder to be produced under license by….continue reading at Defense News

It would be understandable if the more than week-long war-like rhetoric on the Korean peninsula had long ago spooked investors into abandoning the more successful of the two countries. Threats of nuclear strikes, combined with daily news reports of ever more powerful…. continue reading at The Diplomat

Jean-Cyril Spinetta and Leo van Wijk, who masterminded the first merger between two European flag carriers in 2004, are stepping down and handing over the reins of Air France-KLM Group to a younger generation.

The board of the French-Dutch group today appointed Alexandre de Juniac chairman and CEO of Air France-KLM Group and Peter Hartman deputy CEO, succeeding Vice Chairman van Wijk, as of July 1.

Boeing on March 25 conducted a functional check flight of a 787 fitted with the revised lithium-ion battery system as a preliminary step toward a certification demonstration flight planned for the coming days.

The Boeing-owned aircraft, Line Number 86, destined for LOT Polish Airlines, made the relatively short flight around the Washington and Oregon coast test areas following a final series of pre-flight ground tests at Paine Field, Everett, on March 24. Boeing says the flight, which began at 12.11 p.m., was “a normal Boeing production check flight intended to validate that all systems function as designed.” During the roughly two-hour sortie, the crew checked the back-up systems and cycled the landing gear, as well as performed electrical systems checks.

Three months before the planned first flight of its CSeries, Bombardier is grappling with supplier issues crucial to meeting its production cost targets for the 110/135-seat airliner. And with shareholders concerned as the Canadian airframer burns through cash at an unprecedented rate to develop the next-generation narrowbody jet, achieving early profitability is essential.

Central to the issue is the role of Chinese suppliers and their low costs in meeting Bombardier’s pricing assumptions for the CSeries. The company pulled much of the work from its Chinese suppliers last year to mitigate delays, but said it was only temporary. Now industry sources tell Aviation Week Bombardier is in talks with Western suppliers to extend those agreements while retaining their pricing.

Boeing is on the verge of flight testing the modified 787 battery system changes on Line Number 86, an aircraft destined for LOT Polish Airlines. The aircraft is set to undergo a final pre-flight ground test in the afternoon (Pacific time), at Paine Field, Everett on 24th…

The U.S. Marine Corps will keep the two K-MAX unmanned helicopters in Afghanistan ‘indefinitely’, at least, until the withdrawal or US troops from the country next year, a Navy spokeswoman said, noting the aircraft kept re-supply trucks off the road and reduced the threat of roadside bombs. The two helicopters built by Kaman Aerospace and Lockheed Martin have logged over a thousand supply missions supporting Marines in Afghanistan since November 2011. On these missions the K-MAXs hauled more than 3 million pounds of cargo that would have otherwise been transported by trucks, which are vulnerable to roadside bomb attacks.

G2:  Another eminently logical decision by the Brazilian Air Force,  it provides tanker and multirole capability at the best price within a reasonable timeline. 

The Brazilian air force has selected Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to convert two Boeing 767-300ER airliners into aerial refueling tanker transports.

The converted aircraft, which will replace the country’s existing Boeing 707-derived KC-137s, will also act as a strategic airlifter and medical evacuation aircraft.