Several RAAF capabilities were the subject of briefings by senior RAAF officials at Avalon, including the recent (and ongoing) operational success of the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) platform during Operation Okra.

Roketsan, a major Turkish weapons manufacturer and defence contractor, exhibited at Avalon for the first time after executives were impressed by a visit to the 2013 show.

Marvin Test Solutions is a small to medium enterprise of fewer than 100 employees based in California, producing innovative test equipment aimed at reducing the ‘footprint’ of gear required to perform armament and maintenance testing from the ramp to the depot-level workshops.

Commander Air Mobility Group, Air Commodore Warren McDonald has predicted that the RAAF’s Airbus KC-30A multi-role tanker transport will achieve Final Operating Capability at the end of the year.

Dassault Falcon has their business jets on display at the Avalon air show, hoping to entice VIPs both in and out of uniform.

One of the highlights of Avalon 2015 was the presence of an Airbus Defence & Space A400M airlifter, operated by the French Air Force.

Broens, the precision engineering company acquired last year by Forgacs, for the first time displayed the gearbox jack it has developed to lift and manoeuvre from and to its position the gearbox of the F135 engine equipping the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

According to the head of the Pentagon’s JSF program office, Lieutenant-General Chris Bogdan, Australia can expect to pay about US$80-85 million for each of its F-35A JSFs in 2019.

Northrop Grumman has technically started production of the MQ-4C Triton, with the US Naval Air Systems Command placing a US$63.7 million order for long lead components, materials and parts.

Production of the highest-tech assemblies yet to be supplied for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) by Australian industry will begin shortly at a new Rockwell Collins facility in Sydney.

The ADF deserves credit for the speedy introduction of tactical UAVs in support of its deployed forces in the MEAO.

In the October 2014 issue of ADM we reported that the Army’s Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter was facing an uncertain future because it had not been able to achieve the desired rate of effort after a decade in service.

At first glance, the link between hosing cow dung from an automated dairy’s control panel and advancing the art of defence equipment may not be readily apparent. But for Scott Begbie, Managing Director of Adelaide’s APC Technology, agriculture and other industries can sometimes teach defence a thing or two about equipment survival.

During 2014, Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Geoff Brown started shaping the space where Air Force’s Plan Jericho would sit. At speeches in May and August last year he introduced the vision behind the transformational plan to bring the RAAF well and truly into the digital age.

This year is set to be a big one for the RAAF’s KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) which, if everything goes to plan, will finally have an operational boom system.

Operation OKRA is the Australian Defence Force's contribution to the international effort to combat the ISIL terrorist threat in Iraq.