RAAF Base East Sale’s laidback setting suggests a diminished capacity, but this is certainly not the case. As the RAAF celebrates its centenary in 2021, the base continues to evolve.

Airbus and Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation (BHIC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, to explore the joint development of military aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capabilities in Malaysia.

The US Marine Corps (USMC) has successfully demonstrated in flight testing a two-way connection between the Bell AH-1Z Viper helicopter and a ground station using new Link-16 hardware and software.

RBI Hawker has announced that it has received Part 145 maintenance organisation approval from the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) for its new rotary blade repair facility in Brisbane.

Airbus has reached 100 A400M deliveries with the tenth A400M for the Spanish Air Force.

The Jericho Smart Sensing Lab at the University of Sydney Nano Institute has developed a prototype sensor system for the RAAF that mimics the brain’s neural architecture.

FLIR Systems has won an additional US$15.4 million contract to deliver its Black Hornet 3 Personal Reconnaissance Systems (PRS) to the US Army.

Lockheed Martin Australia has teamed with NSW-based Varley Group and two other regionally-based industry partners to develop new deployable cabins.

The first of the RAAF’s Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Tritons will arrive in Australia in 2024, a year later than scheduled.

Trusted Autonomous Systems, SmartSat CRC, and RAAF Air Warfare Centre in association with Sir Lawrence Wackett Defence and Aerospace Centre at RMIT have introduced the High-Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) Challenge for Australian companies.

Insitu Pacific and Boeing Australia’s Detect and Avoid (DAA) capability is now ready to field in real-world operations after test flights.

The Japan Coast Guard will expand its fleet with two new H225 helicopters, taking its total Super Puma fleet up to 17.

Airbus has been qualified by the Government of Canada as a bidder for the Strategic Tanker Transport Capability project, a procurement process launched to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force Airbus A310MRTT (CC-150 Polaris) multirole tanker fleet.

A system that tracks eye movements and gaze patterns of pilots-in-training has been installed in No. 79 Squadron’s Hawk 127 Lead-In-Fighter simulator at RAAF Base Pearce, courtesy of Canberra-based company Seeing Machines.

Australian search and surveillance provider Sentient Vision Systems has announced the first flight of its ViDAR pod system, the VMS-5 (ViDAR Maritime Surveillance) Day/Night Optical Radar pod.

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) has signed a new agreement with Lockheed Martin worth $260 million for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program production lots 15-17.