UK Royal Navy

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

Safran Helicopter Engines has won a £241 million ($305.2 million) contract to support the RTM322 engines used on the UK Royal Navy’s Merlin helicopters.

Rising demand for weapons stocks is driving a review of European missile manufacturing.

The UK is set to upgrade the Sea Viper air defense system that equips its Type 45 destroyers to enable improved capabilities against ballistic missiles.

While the U.S. and UK were the only nations to conduct the strikes, they were supported by Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands.

The UK has established its second frontline F-35 Joint Strike Fighter squadron.

The Nov. 15 test served two purposes—as a carrier-proving flight for the Mojave and as a demonstration of the largest crewless aircraft on a Royal Navy ship.

F-35 Joint Strike Fighters have made the first Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landings (SRVL) onto the Royal Navy’s Prince of Wales aircraft carrier.

A fixed-wing uncrewed air system has completed the first landings and takeoffs from the UK’s Prince of Wales aircraft carriers.

The 65,000-ton HMS Prince of Wales is set to embark several Lockheed Martin F-35s later this month for the third round of development testing with the aircraft.

An aircraft carrier accident report concludes that the UK’s first F-35 squadron was not ready for its 2021 Indo-Pacific deployment.

The long-awaited report into the loss of F-35B ZM152 makes 46 recommendations to the joint Royal Navy-Royal Air Force organization operating the F-35.

The UK Royal Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, has returned to sea after nine months of repairs.

Leonardo Helicopters and Lockheed Martin won £1.86 million ($2.43 million) contracts for an initial phase of the Merlin Out of Service Date Extension Program.

General Atomics has secured a $1.9 million contract from the UK defense ministry for Project Mojave that could lead to the UAS taking off from a UK carrier.

The UK Royal Navy will experiment with a parafoil uncrewed aircraft system.

Australia will buy three U.S. Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack subs before embarking on a trilateral submarine development under the AUKUS defense pact.

China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy challenged the UK Royal Navy’s carrier strike group during its deployment to the Pacific in 2021, an Airbus official says.

The UK Royal Navy is eyeing plans to integrate a rotary-wing uncrewed air system on all of its surface vessels.

The UK Royal Navy is set to operate Schiebel’s Camcopter rotary-wing uncrewed air system from its Type 23 frigates.

The UK Royal Navy is looking to accelerate the development of an autonomous, heavy-lift uncrewed air system so that it can reduce its reliance on expensive-to-operate conventional rotary-wing platforms.

The UK will tilt power projection towards the Indo-Pacific region in response to the growing threat posed by China, a review of the UK foreign and defense policy has outlined.

The UK Royal Navy is to use Saab’s remote air traffic control tower technology to manage a remote satellite airfield in Cornwall.

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have committed to support the first operational deployment of the UK’s new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier in the spring.

A parliamentary committee says the defense ministry is in danger of failing “to capitalize on the huge investment that the UK has made” in the two ships because of delays in programs critical to their operation.