If everything goes as planned, the transition of Britain’s northern Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) mission from the Tornado F3 to the Eurofighter Typhoon next March will be as simple as turning on a light. “There’s a [communication] switch in each HAS (hardened aircraft shelter) that says ‘Tornado/Typhoon’,” notes Sqdn. Leader Toria McPhaden, commanding officer of the Station Services Squadron (S3) at RAF Leuchars. “You switch it across and everything will be fine.”

When it touched down in Arizona in July, Zephyr, a solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), attracted attention for the two-week duration of its test flight. The aircraft was, in fact, developed for high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) flight by British defense technology company Qinetiq, which believes its mission capabilities and relative low cost will reshape the logistics of UAV operations.

Those wondering how the defense industry will cope in the new age of austerity sweeping many countries found answers at Defense Vehicle Dynamics 2010. The show, presented here in June by Defense Equipment and Support (DE&S), the equipment acquisition and support wing of the U.K. Defense Ministry, is a window on new technologies and platforms. The dominant trend this year, however, was squeezing greater utility out of current equipment.