Weapons & Technologies

The Air Force just pulled part of its Sentinel missile budget and pointed it at a different job: turning a Qatari Boeing 747-8 into a stop-gap Air Force One. The switch appeared in a Senate hearing on June 26. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink told lawmakers the dollars came from “early-to-need” lines that the missile team will not touch this year. Defense officials confirm the move keeps the main Sentinel timeline steady because no planned hardware ships late.

The Systems Division of Tenix Defence Systems today closed the Critical Design Review for the ELTA EL/L-8222 electronic-countermeasures pod Software Support Facility. Built at Mawson Lakes, South Australia, the new suite will stand ready for the Royal Australian Air Force’s Electronic Warfare Squadron in June 2001. The work finishes on time and within contract cost.

Paris closed the gates of Le Bourget last night. Crowds went home with ringing ears and packed phones. When we look at the tally, two facts stand out. Airbus walked away with the bulk of commercial orders. The defense sector filled almost half of every hall. Those two forces shaped a show that felt different from any edition in recent memory.

PARIS – Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCAs, stepped onto the world stage this week at the Paris Air Show. Two full-scale mock-ups – Anduril’s Fury YFQ-44 and General Atomics’ YFQ-42 – drew steady crowds. Executives from both firms stressed one message: Europe can help build the fleet, not just buy it. Defense officials confirm that Washington supports the idea, marking a sharp break from past export cycles that delayed foreign access for years.

The French, German, and Spanish defense ministries have committed to the next stage of the tri-national Future Combat Air System. Their signature on Phase 1B unlocks €3.2 billion for a thirty-six-month round of design and demonstration work. The agreement comes two weeks after negotiators settled the final work-share split. The French Directorate General for Armaments notified the prime contractors – Dassault Aviation, Airbus Defence and Space in Germany and Spain, Indra, and the engine joint-venture EUMET.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has notified NATO headquarters that Spain will not accept a future rule requiring every ally to channel five percent of national output into defense. His letter, delivered late Thursday to Secretary-General Mark Rutte, calls the target “unreasonable” and warns that it would stretch the state budget and disrupt wider European security programs. Defense officials confirm the message reached Brussels in time to feature on next week’s summit agenda in The Hague – guaranteeing formal debate rather than corridor talk.