Based in London, Tony covers European defense programs. Prior to joining Aviation Week in November 2012, Tony was at Shephard Media Group where he was deputy editor for Rotorhub and Defence Helicopter magazines. Tony has covered avionics, unmanned vehicles, the supply chain and cyberwarfare.
The six-nation UCAV demonstrator completed an initial phase in November 2015, but will continue flight trials in 2016 and potentially beyond. In a parallel effort, Britain has just completed a third round of flight tests of its Taranis UCAV demonstrator. And a four-nation effort, led by Germany, is to begin designing an unmanned ISR platform in the spring of 2016.
Airbus Defense and Space has received a firm order for an additional eight aircraft from the French defense procurement agency, the DGA, bringing the total aircraft on order from the French air force to nine.
The U.K.’s new fleet of nine Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft will be delivered in the same vanilla configuration as those for the U.S. Navy, ministers have confirmed.
