Saudi Arabian and US air forces spent December undergoing bilateral exercises to test ‘combat readiness’, according to the Royal Saudi Air Force

Ghana’s Ministry of Defence has suspended negotiations with Czech aircraft builder Aero Vodochody for the acquisition of six L-39 NG light attack/trainer aircraft while a rival US bid was evaluated.

Following the delivery of the last of its new F-15SA advanced fighter aircraft to the Royal Saudi Air Force on December 14 2020, as part of a $29bn foreign military sales (FMS) agreement signed in 2010, Boeing has now been awarded a $93.39 million ‘bilateral requirements contract modification’ for the Royal Saudi Air Force F-15SA OEM training programme, the US DoD announced on 8 December.

Turkish and Indian manufactured trainer aircraft are in contention the latest Malaysian contract .for a light fighter and advanced trainer contract

The Indian Air Force has started the training of its pilots on the Rafale within India itself. Rafale pilot and groundcrew training in France ended in April 2021, with the graduation of the third batch of personnel.

The joint UK-Qatari Typhoon Squadron is continuing to work up, participating in a series of exercises. The Joint Squadron was planned to operate for a period of three years, the last six months of which will be spent in Qatar.

Emirates Group Security (EGS) has signed an agreement with the University of Arizona (UA) located in Tucson, Arizona, USA.

The latest group of future Saudi Arabian air traffic controllers to train with New Zealand’s Airways International was the first to include Saudi women learning ATC skills abroad. Alan Dron reports.