The Netherlands is to replace its Dutch Antilles-based Lockheed Martin P-3C Orions with two Royal Netherlands Air Force Fokker 60 transports modified for aerial reconnaissance duties. The 334 Sqn aircraft will receive improved search radars, extra fuel tanks and observation windows for the deployment, which will last for up to two years. The Dutch navy's Orions will be withdrawn from service by the end of the year.
Source: Flight International
Although battlefield observations from the Ukraine War led the army to cancel its next-generation armed scout helicopter, the service’s senior aviation leaders say they still see a need for Bell’s V-280 Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft in future conflicts.
Last June during a business event in Connecticut, Sikorsky president Paul Lemmo said the company’s VH-92A Patriot helicopter would take over presidential transport missions flown by VH-3D and VH-60N helicopters “completely” by this spring. That still has not happened.
The Raider X prototype, built for the US Army’s now-cancelled Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft programme, features the new GE Aerospace T901 Improved Turbine Engine that will eventually be fitted into the army’s UH-60 Black Hawk fleet.
