Paris Air Show

Czech company Aero Vodochody has announced three customers who have signed up to enter the L-39 Next Generation upgrade program, which will equip their L-39 jet trainers with new engines and systems.

PARIS — Lockheed Martin will partner with Bombardier and Raytheon to compete for the US Air Force’s next-generation Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) replacement, the defense giant announced Tuesday in Paris.

France has invited manufacturers to compete to replace the country’s Alpha jet trainers, with a formal request for proposals expected by year’s end, officials said at the Paris Air Show.

Airbus Helicopters has given details of plans to develop a new heavy helicopter, known as the X6, which it believes will become a successor to its NH90 and H225 helicopters with military customers in 15 years time.

PARIS — Fresh on the heels of signing a $100 million contract to upgrade NATO’s air and missile defense command, ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) displayed a new integrated computer platform at the Paris Air Show Monday.

PARIS — Italy’s efforts to expand the availability of crew training for its Predator and Reaper unmanned air vehicle fleet took a step forward Tuesday with the Air Force contracting Canadian simulator company CAE to upgrade and enhance a mission training simulator already ordered but not delivered.

This year, a team of the company’s young engineers and managers drawn from five European countries were challenged to come up with concepts and technologies that might be available in the 2035 timeframe to give warfighters a way to assemble missiles in the field from a suite of components designed to meet specific threats.

Piaggio Aerospace is pitching its business jet-turned UAV, The P.IHH Hammerhead, as a temporary solution before Europe jointly develops a MALE UAV.

PARIS — Countries signing up to buy the joint strike fighter have all said they are interested in a block buy that could see commitments to purchase 500 of the aircraft, a Lockheed Martin official said on Monday.

PARIS — Raytheon Missile Systems is open to developing a powered version of the Small Diameter Bomb II (SDBII) to meet a British requirement for a mini-cruise missile it is looking to purchase for its fleet of F-35 combat jets, according to Taylor Lawrence, president of the company’s missile systems business.