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.
LONDON — The U.K. Home Office has been told to pay £224 million ($372 million) to Raytheon following the cancellation of a failed secure borders program. An arbitration tribunal ruled that the British government should pay the company £50 million in damages and £9.6 million in contract charges, as well reimburse the money spent by the company on assets for the program, which was awarded to Raytheon Systems Ltd., part of the larger Raytheon group, back in 2007.
LONDON—The U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) has begun using its Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joint intelligence-gathering aircraft operationally for the first time. While visiting forward-deployed personnel in Cyprus, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon confirmed the U.K.’s single aircraft was being used to support Operation Shader, the U.K.’s humanitarian mission in Iraq.
LONDON — Icelandic authorities have raised aviation alert levels to orange after seismic activity around one of the country’s volcanos was detected. A swarm of earthquakes have been measured by Icelandic experts with the country’s Meteorological Office around the Barðarbunga volcano that could indicate signs of an impending eruption. Experts raised the alert level from yellow green to yellow on August 16, and then to orange on August 18 after the strongest earthquakes detected around the volcano since 1996.
