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 demand for training helicopters probably explains much of Avic’s specific interest in the Mil Mi-34. Chinese helicopter operations are expanding fast, challenging schools to train enough pilots.
Although Australian defense officials are keen to increase the army’s Chinook fleet to 10 aircraft from the current seven, the defense department in Canberra says it has not yet decided even to ask the government to approve buying more of the aircraft.
A full demonstrator engine for the F-3 is due to run in 2018, when the Japanese government should decide whether to go ahead with the indigenous fighter.
