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.
BEIJING — The Boeing Vigilare command-and-control system is ready for operation in Australia after passing its last formal test. As part of the trials, conducted at RAAF Williamtown in Newcastle, New South Wales, the system was used in an exercise in which pilots and air defense operators were trained as instructors and controllers in advanced fighter tactics.
The Chinese Railways Ministry is easing pressure on the country’s airlines with a decision to cut the speed of the Beijing-Shanghai fast train service that will begin in June.
No part of the Chinese state aircraft industry seems to lack ambition. As Comac works away on a narrowbody airliner, Avicopter on a range of helicopters and ACAE on a commercial turbofan, Avic Aircraft says it is looking at offering a civil jet freighter with a gross weight of maybe 100-150 tons. The company is also studying a smaller aircraft in the class of the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules and has separately considered a version of the proposed MA700 turboprop airliner with a new freight fuselage.
