Defense

The supreme commander of the UAE armed forces and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nayhan spoke publicly about the collapsed deal between Dassault and the UAE Defence Force for its Rafale fighter aircraft saying all the diplomatic and political will in the world would not overcome uncompetitive and unworkable commercial terms

Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investments Company signed a deal at the show to create an alliance with American unmanned air systems(UAS)specialist Insitu to provide support and sustainment of Insitu's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) UAS products and services in the Middle East.

The importance of the Gulf region to the UK has been underlined here at the Dubai Airshow, particularly with ongoing Typhoon export campaigns in the UAE, Qatar and Oman.

Fresh from operations over Iraq and Afghanistan, the US Marine Corps Bell-Boeing MV-22 Osprey is making its regional airshow debut at Dubai.

Diamond Aircraft is showing the prototype of its new maritime surveillance aircraft at the Dubai Airshow.

Though the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master prototypes have been a regular sight at international air shows, Dubai sees the public debut of the production aircraft, in the shape of the first T-346 to be delivered to the Italian Air Force's Reparto Sperimentale Volo at Pratica di Mare.

Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, Pakistan's Chief of the Air Staff, underlined the importance of the new JF-17 Thunder which, he said, “represented a much-needed capability for the Pakistan Air Force”.

Russian companies are heavily represented at the Dubai Airshow and they're demonstrating big ambitions for this region.

The UAE's national formation aerobatics team, Al Fursan (the Knights) is making its debut as a full seven-aircraft team at the show.

Raytheon has completed the development and testing of a new 'WiPak' method of wirelessly integrating its Paveway family of laser-guided and dual-mode (laser/GPS) bombs.

Wing Commander Dicky Patounas, the commanding officer of No3 (Fighter) Squadron, Royal Air Force, spoke at the Dubai Airshow and described his most memorable combat mission during recent operations over Libya.

The mission integration division at L-3 Communications is showing its Spydr multi-sensor surveillance aircraft testbed at the Dubai Airshow.

Abu Dhabi-based ADCOM is showing the prototype of its new United 40 UAV in the static park.

Under the theme of 'partnership' UK companies are looking to strengthen existing industrial links with companies in the UAE, to build new ones and to be a key partner in the Abu Dhabi vision for 2030.

The UAE is re-opening its multi-billion dollar fighter contest, just weeks after it seemed certain that the Dassault Rafale would be selected unopposed. French hopes that the Rafale's selection would be announced here in Dubai appear to have been dashed and the competition to supply the UAE Air Force & Air Defence with a next-generation fighter is again wide open.

Eurocopter is planning to broaden its co-operation with Middle East partners as its builds on a strong presence in the region. The company currently has more than 600 helicopters operating in this growing market.

Inmarsat is working on new “bearers” or waveforms that will push its L-band SwiftBroadband service to the limit. The existing (up to) 432kbps download speeds may be pushed to 500kbps, or even as much as 700kbps, when the new high data rate (HDR) bearers are introduced in 2013.

The NH90 programme has reached a major milestone with the declaration of compliance for the NH90 TTH (Tactical Transport Helicopter) variant's Final Operational Configuration, This marks the NH-90 TTH's development completion, and enables deliveries to begin before year-end in the helicopter's full operational definition.

Northrop Grumman is to highlight its global security capabilities at this year's Dubai Airshow, including airborne surveillance, UAS', airborne early warning and control systems, fire control radars and infrared countermeasures, plus its training and support services.

Iraqi Air Force has gone operational with new air traffic control tower systems at its bases at Tikrit and Taji.

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has successfully flown its medium altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned air vehicle (UAV) as part of a key test programe.

Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) crews started flight training on their first A330 MRTT with Airbus Military instructors at the Airbus Military Getafe facilities in Spain yesterday

Within sight of the Virginia coast, the USS Wasp amphibious assault ship has been circling since the beginning of the month in a 20 X 20-mi. box quietly—until now—making history as the host of the very first sea trials of the Lockheed Martin F-35B, which is designed for short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) operations for the U.S. Marine Corps.

The Second Edition of the Middle East Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Symposium (MEISR) taking place at the Armed Forces Officers Club in Abu Dhabi has been moved forward to February 5-6, 2012

Northrop Grumman Corp has pulled out of the 2012 Farnborough International air show as part of a drive to cut costs in what it describes as leaner times in the global defence market but it is honouring its commitment to the Dubai Air Show.