Naval Aviation

P-8A Poseidon upgrades

The US Navy has received most of the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft it has on order, but is eager to keep the earliest models in the fleet relevant and operationally effective.To this end a $13.54million contract has been awarded to Boeing to performed IncrementThree Block One retrofit modifications on 24 airframes. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has also ordered an additional 25 retrofit kits for future batches of aircraft retrofits.The work on the initial 24 aircraft will be undertaken at Boeing ’ s main production plant at Seattle with the work expected to be completed by December 2023. IncrementThree comprises four Engineering Change Proposals (ECP); according to the DoD, the final ECP is ‘ on track’ to be fielded in FY2025, to provide ‘ critical ASW Signals Intelligence (ASW SIGINT), Higher than Secret (HTS) processing, enhanced track management (Minotaur) and an Enhanced Multi-static Active Coherent (MAC-E) ASW capability ’ .

Wildcat with extra teeth

A Royal Navy AW159 Wildcat HMA Mk2 from 815 Naval Air Squadron successfully fired a test Martlet missile on frontline operations for the first time.The aircraft was part of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 21 and was used in a scenario where the helicopter had been called in to defend HMS Queen Elizabeth from a simulated attack by a swarm of small surface vessels. The lightweight Martlet missile, of which each Wildcat can carry up to twenty, successfully engaged a small inflatable target having flown at a speed of one and a half times the speed of sound.

China’s future carrier aircraft make maiden flights

Chinese aircraft manufacturer Shenyang Aircraft Corporation saw their latest product, the twin seatWS13E engine powered FC-31/35 stealth fighter, successfully take to the air for the first time. Images seen in theWest show the aircraft, painted in turquoise-green primer, fly on 29 October 2021.The progress made by the Chinese aircraft industry is astounding as this aircraft is only the second stealthy carrier-based aircraft in the world, other than the Lockheed Martin F-35C. The photo shows the aircraft fitted with a launch bar for catapult launches, folding wing mechanism and a chin-mounted EO infrared search and tracking sensor. Also visible in the image were twin canted tailfins, wider wingspan, a bulkier fuselage and redesigned cockpit area for the pilot. It has been surmised that the aircraft, in order to keep its stealthy characteristics intact, has a large internal weapons bay similar to the F-35C.The Chinese Navy is also continuing to develop the J-15T aircraft which is expected to enter service in early 2022 but will probably be known as the J-15B, whilst another ‘D’ variant may be developed to serve in the role of electronic attack aircraft. China is also developing the KJ-600 Airborne EarlyWarning and reconnaissance platform for operation from the aircraft carriers. Xain Aircraft Industrial Corporation (XAC) is a virtual copy of the Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye and has been seen flying from Xian-Yanliang Air Base in recent months conducting flight trials.

First H225M in Brazilian Naval Service

Airbus Industries celebrated the delivery of the first H225M helicopter into service with the Brazilian Navy in late November.The aircraft will be stationed at the naval base in São Pedro d'Aldeia.The aircraft was developed by the Brazilian subsidiary of Airbus Helicopters, Helibras and features a range of new embedded technologies including the EWS IDAS-3 (countermeasure system), MBDA Exocet AM39 B2M2 missiles, the APS143 tactical radar and the naval mission system N-TDMS (Naval Tactical Data Management System).

More British F-35Bs

Having been flown across the North Atlantic from Texas assisted by an RAFVoyager tanker aircraft to RAF Marham, three additional F-35B Lightning II aircraft have brought the United Kingdom ’ s fleet of the type up to 24 aircraft in 207 Squadron. The news came as one of the existing aircraft crashed while taking off from the deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Mediterranean prompting an immediate and intense recovery operation involving British,American and Italian ships and equipment, firstly to locate the crashed aircraft, and then to recover it.There was a sense of urgency in the recovery due both to the sensitive nature of the technologies of the F-35B aircraft and the presence nearby in the Mediterranean of Russian naval forces.The MOD has been predictably tight-lipped about the cause and repercussions of the crash which was filmed by a crewmember on the aircraft carrier and leaked onto social media. The unnamed sailor was subsequently arrested.The Royal Navy crash is only the third F-35B Lightning to be lost during the course of the Joint Strike Fighter programme with the US Marine Corps suffering two incidents, the first in 2018 and the most recent in 2020, when a US Marine F-35B collided with a KC-130 Hercules aircraft during refuelling over California and subsequently crashed.