Bradley Perrett covered China, Japan, South Korea and Australia. He is a Mandarin-speaking Australian.
Before joining Aviation Week in 2006 he was a macroeconomics, politics and aerospace journalist with Reuters. Perrett holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Macquarie University, Sydney. He left Aviation Week in 2020.
Chinese missile and space group Casic (China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp.) is claiming significant but unspecified advances in titanium-aluminum intermetallics, a form of metallurgy used in gas turbines, such as aircraft engines.
CANBERRA — The Australian government is in talks with U.S. government officials and Boeing about ordering a further batch of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets because of delays in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The deal could be for up to 24 additional twin-engine fighters. A decision will be made next year, Defense Minister Stephen Smith says. For Lockheed Martin, the move raises the risk that it will lose 48 F-35 orders it was hoping to bank in Australia.
BEIJING — Aiming for first delivery in 2016 of whichever foreign fighter wins its F-X competition, Japan will next month choose three primary local manufacturers for the aircraft. Established suppliers likely to be chosen include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the airframe, IHI for the engine and Mitsubishi Electric for the fighter’s systems. A major challenge confronting the defense ministry is to preserve the country’s fighter industrial base.
