When Finland selected the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II as its new fighter on 10 December, the country also became the third customer so far to select the Kongsberg Joint Strike Missile (JSM) as its maritime strike weapon of choice.

One of the largest and most ambitious projects in Defence is often overlooked: Air 6500, the Joint Air Battle Management System for the ADF and what Defence calls the ‘core’ of the future Integrated Air and Missile Defence capability.

Boeing Australia and the RAAF have advanced the operational readiness of the Airpower Teaming System aircraft, successfully demonstrating multiple payloads, semi-autonomous behaviours and crewed-uncrewed teaming in the digital environment.

The RAAF’s No. 10 Squadron plays a significant part in maintaining Australia’s knowledge edge, providing the only airborne ISREW capability in the whole of the ADF.

The UK MoD has revealed that Royal Australian Air Force crews, together with their Royal Air Force and United States Air Force counterparts, have recently carried out a mission aboard a US Boeing RC-135W ‘Rivet Joint’ Signals Intelligence.

Lockheed Martin Australia and Leidos Australia have signed a teaming agreement to design, develop and build advanced secure technologies to support the Joint Air Battle Management Systems Project (Air 6500-1).

BAE Systems Australia has secured a new F-35 Air Vehicle Support Services (AVSS) contract to establish sovereign maintenance and supply-chain support for the Australian fleet at RAAF Bases Williamtown in NSW and Tindal in the NT.

Speaking at the Dubai Air Show in mid-November, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Executive VP Greg Ulmer said that the RAAF has requested details for the supply of 30 C-130J Hercules. However, Ulmer’s specific mention of six KC-130Js is interesting.

Airbus Defence & Space revealed overnight that it is further developing the Automatic Air to Air Refuelling (A3R) capabilities of its A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) to include a fully autonomous refuelling capability.

More than 36 years of RAAF ‘classic’ Hornet flying came to an end on 30 November, with the ferry of the few remaining operational aircraft from RAAF Tindal to Williamtown for withdrawal.

Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) has signed a $60 million agreement with the Commonwealth to provide deeper maintenance to the RAAF’s P-8A Poseidon aircraft.

Melbourne-based defence and civil aviation software technology firm, Ocean Software, and Brussels-based defence logistics software firm, ILIAS Solutions, have joined forces to offer their integrated capabilities across the defence aerospace sector.

The Indonesia Ministry of Defence has placed an order for two Airbus A400M aircraft in multirole tanker and transport configuration.

Advanced computer vision technology company Seeing Machines has announced a collaboration agreement with avionics company, Collins Aerospace, to deliver eye-tracking technology solutions for monitoring pilot fatigue across the aviation industry.

CAE Australia has signed a teaming agreement with Cobham Aviation Services to establish Team AUStringer, which will respond to Air 5428 Phase 3.

The aircraft, acquired from Iberia, will be converted into military tanker transport at Airbus’ Spanish headquarters in Getafe, Spain.