DefenceTalkAirbus has signed a contract with the Belgian Ministry of Defence to provide tactical satellite communications services for a 15 year period. The Armed Forces will utilize channels of the Airbus UHF (Ultra High Frequency) military communications hosted payload on-board a commercial telecommunications satellite manufactured by Airbus. “With this new UHF payload, Airbus will be […]https://www.defencetalk.com/airbus-to-provide-satellite-communications-for-belgian-armed-forces-79757/

DefenceTalkA Vienna court on Monday found an Austrian arms lobbyist guilty of money laundering related to European defence giant EADS, now renamed Airbus. Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly received a six-month suspended prison sentence and was ordered to pay 50,000 euros ($50,600), deemed to have been “ill-gotten gains”, a spokesman of the Vienna regional court told AFP. Both […]https://www.defencetalk.com/austrian-arms-lobbyist-convicted-of-money-laundering-79385/

DefenceTalkAirbus said Tuesday it had successfully tested its A400M military transporter as a water bomber as heatwaves cause an increasing number of wildfires during the summer in Europe. “Airbus has successfully tested a removable firefighting demonstrator kit on the A400M new generation airlifter during a flight test campaign in Spain,” the European plane maker said […]https://www.defencetalk.com/airbus-tests-a400m-military-plane-as-water-bomber-79127/

DefenceTalkOCCAR (Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation), on behalf of the French and Spanish Armament General Directorate, the DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement) and the DGAM (Dirección General de Armamento y Material) has awarded a contract to Airbus Helicopters for the development, production, and initial in-service support of the Tiger MkIII attack helicopter upgrade program. The […]https://www.defencetalk.com/france-and-spain-launch-tiger-mkiii-helicopters-program-78282/

DefenceTalkGermany, France, Italy and Spain signed Thursday a 7.1-billion-euro contract to build and operate a fleet of surveillance drones, said Airbus, leader of the consortium of defence firms tapped for the project. Baptised Eurodrone, the twin-motor aircraft with a 30-metre wingspan similar to some commercial planes, will be able to carry out intelligence-gathering, surveillance as […]https://www.defencetalk.com/european-nations-sign-7-bn-euro-drone-contract-78097/

DefenceTalkThe US Air Force is set to reopen a bidding war between Boeing and arch-rival Airbus over the replacement of its ageing fleet of refueling aircraft essential to Washington’s ability to project power beyond its borders. In a tortuous and scandal-riven procurement process, during which two contracts were scrapped, Boeing finally snagged a $35-billion (30-billion-euro) […]

DefenceTalkThe UK Royal Navy has awarded a 12 month contract extension to Airbus covering the continued provision of satellite-based maritime surveillance services for the Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC). The contract follows the successful completion of a proof of concept phase, and will ensure the continued monitoring of areas of interest in UK waters and […]

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkThe prototype of Airbus Helicopters’ VSR700 unmanned aerial system (UAS) has performed its first free flight. The VSR700 performed a ten minute flight at a drone test centre near Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. This is a significant step in the programme following the first flight in November 2019 when the prototype was tethered […]https://www.defencetalk.com/vsr700-prototype-performs-first-autonomous-free-flight-76095/

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkThe H145M is a true multi-role helicopter. In addition to tactical air transport of six fully equipped special-forces commandos, this light twin-engine helicopter can be deployed for fire support, armed reconnaissance, evacuation of wounded or for hostage rescue. But attention is shifting to an ever greater extent to its use as a flying command post. […]https://www.defencetalk.com/h145m-helicopter-the-flying-command-post-75693/

DefenceTalkThe Airbus A400M new generation airlifter has achieved a new decisive milestone after the certification of its Automatic Low Level Flight capability, offering a unique in its class capability for a military transport aircraft. The certification campaign, performed in April above the Pyrenees and central France, involved operations down to 500ft, including transitions from low […]https://www.defencetalk.com/airbus-a400m-achieves-automatic-low-level-flight-certification-75685/