Defense 2016 Highlights

Kuwait signed a long-awaited contract with Italy in April to purchase the Eurofighter Typhoon. Valued at $8.7 billion, the contract covers 28 Tranche 3 aircraft, the first export Typhoons with Captor-E active, electronically scanned array radars. Deliveries will begin in 2019.

Japan’s Mitsubishi X-2 stealth fighter technology demonstrator made it first flight from Gifu on April 22. The aircraft is powered by two indigenously developed IHI XF5-1 afterburning turbofans with 3-D thrust vectoring using paddles in the exhaust stream.

Saab rolled out the first JAS 39E Gripen on May 17. First flight is now planned for the second quarter of 2017. Three single-seat test aircraft will fly in Sweden. Export customer Brazil will use two test aircraft, including one two-seat JAS 39F for which it leads development.

MBDA is to develop the SPEAR mini cruise missile to arm Lockheed Martin F-35s under a UK Defense Ministry contract for more than £400 million ($585 million). The winged, turbojet-powered missile, with a dual-mode millimeter-wave/semi-active-laser seeker, will optionally arm UK Typhoons.

Denmark in May formally selected the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter to replace its F-16s. Deliveries of 27 aircraft are expected to begin in 2021 and to be completed in 2026. Denmark was already a partner in the F-35 program.

India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. HTT-40 indigenous basic trainer made its first flight on May 31, powered by a Honeywell TPE331-12B turboprop. The tandem-seat aircraft is planned to replace the Indian air force’s HPT-32 Deepak basic trainers, now retired.

The Indian-Russian BrahMos supersonic cruise missile made its first flight on an Indian air force Sukhoi Su-30MKI in June from the Nasik plant of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., which was responsible for adapting the fighter to carry the 2,500-kg (5,500-lb.) missile.

The UK in June ordered nine Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and 50 Boeing AH-54E Apache attack helicopters in Foreign Military Sales deals valued at £3 billion ($3.8 billion) and £1.78 billion, respectively. The P-8s are to be delivered in 2019-20 to replace already-retired Nimrods.

China’s Avic Y-20 four-turbofan airlifter entered service in June. In the same weight class as Russia’s Ilyushin Il-76, the Y-20 first few in 2013. Initial aircraft are powered by Russian Soloviev D-30KP turbofans, but China is developing the more powerful Shenyang WS-20 to power the airlifter.

The U.S. Air Force declared the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter operational in August 2016, following the service-entry milestone achieved by the U.S. Marine Corps with the vertical-lift F-35B variant in July 2015. The F-35 made its international debut in 2016, flying to the Netherlands and the UK.


Italy’s Piaggio Aerospace flew its prototype Multirole Patrol Aircraft, an extensively modified derivative of its P.180 Avanti business turboprop, in May. The MPA has a 50% longer wingspan, larger foreplane and tail, 50% increase in fuel capacity and more powerful engines.

Built by prototyping subsidiary Scaled Composites, the demonstrator for Northrop Grumman’s entry in the U.S. Air Force T-X advanced trainer contest made its first flight from Mojave, California, on Aug. 22. The aircraft is powered by an unreheated General Electric F404.

Northrop Grumman’s B-21 Long-Range Strike Bomber was named the Raider in 2016, to honor the Doolittle Raiders who bombed Tokyo in 1942. Key suppliers are: engine-maker Pratt & Whitney, aerostuctures companies GKN Aerospace, Orbital ATK and Spirit AeroSystems, as well as electronics developers BAE Systems and Rockwell Collins and composites tooling specialist Janicki Industries.

Boeing rolled out its clean-sheet contender for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X advanced pilot trainer competition on Sept. 13, the aircraft making its first flight on Dec. 20. With partner Saab, two prototypes of the single-engine, twin-tail aircraft have been built, powered by an afterburning General Electric F404.

After selecting Dassault’s Rafale as its Medium Multi-Role Aircraft in January 2012, India canceled the 126-fighter procurement in July 2015 when negotiations stalled. Instead, India agreed to buy 36 Rafales direct from France, but the deal still took to September 2016 to sign.

The Yak-152 trainer aircraft from Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. made its first flight on Sept. 29. Built by Irkut, the tandem-seat aircraft is powered by a diesel-cycle piston engine developed by Germany’s RED Aircraft and burning jet fuel.

News of a series of fighter deals boosted Boeing in November, when the U.S. government approved Qatar’s request to buy 72 F-15QAs and Kuwait’s for 40 F/A-18E/Fs. Canada unveiled plans for an interim purchase of 18 F/A-18E/Fs to fill a gap ahead of the competitive decision on a new fighter.

Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) revealed to Aviation Week in December that they have teamed to form Freedom Aircraft Ventures and offer a clean-sheet design, powered by two Williams FJ44-4M commercial turbofans, for the U.S. Air Force’s 350-aircraft T-X advanced trainer requirement.

Antonov rolled out the An-132D light transport aircraft demonstrator on Dec. 20 in Kiev. A modernized An-32 with Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150A turboprops, Dowty propellers and Honeywell avionics, the An-132 will be produced in Saudi Arabia by Taqnia Aeronautics.