The Sikorsky Raider X was 90% complete in June 2022 at the company's West Palm Beach facility. The aircraft is shown here with the turreted cannon under the nose and with the weapons bay door open, with the modular effects launcher attached. (Sikorsky)
Sikorsky said that the prototype Raider X, its submission for the US Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) programme, is 90% complete and the company has 98% of parts on hand for the build.
The company is waiting for the T901-GE-900 Improved Turbine Engine (ITE) from General Electric to arrive in November 2022.
The ITE is “the last significant piece of our helicopter that hasn't been installed”, Pete Germanowski, FARA chief engineer at Sikorsky, told reporters on 28 June.
The army announced on 23 March that it conducted the first ‘light-off' off General Electric's T901 First Engine to Test (FETT), meaning power was produced by igniting fuel in the engine.
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The Singapore Armed Forces is building infrastructure and developing workforce to support its new fourth service, the Digital and Intelligence Service, which is expected to be set up by late 2022. (Singapore Armed Forces)
Singapore's Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) has announced updates regarding its efforts to develop infrastructure and a skilled workforce for the new Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS) of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).
In a media release, MINDEF said it will establish a Digital Ops-Tech Centre (DOTC) and a Centre of Excellence for Cyber Range (CCR) to stimulate capability development of the SAF in the digital and cyber frontier.
The DOTC will partner with the Defence Technology Community (DTC), other governmental agencies, academia, and the industry to enhance military response to new operational requirements in the digital domain by developing a “digital core well versed in data science and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies”, MINDEF said.
The “digital experts” nurtured by the DOTC will be rotated between the centre and the SAF's operational units as well as externally to DOTC's partners for “exposure to build a comprehensive understanding of the cyber ecosystem”, MINDEF added.
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With the Czech Republic set to provide air defence cover for its neighbour, Slovakia is in a position to transfer its MiG-29s (pictured) to Ukraine. (Slovakian Air Force)
The Czech Air Force (Vzdusné Sily Armády Ceské Republiky: VSACR) is set to protect the airspace of its Slovakian neighbour in a move that could clear the latter to transfer its much-needed MiGs to Ukraine.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala made the disclosure on national TV on 3 July, saying that, from September Saab Gripen C fighters of the VSACR will perform air-defence duties across the airspace of Slovakia. Speaking at the same time, Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger said that the offer from the Czech government would provide a stopgap between the Slovak Air Force (Vzdušné sily Slovenskej Republiky: VSR) retiring its MiG-29s and receiving the first Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons on order, at the same time enabling the transfer of the MiGs to Ukraine.
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The X-2701 is being developed by the Portuguese Navy to play a variety of roles. (Janes/Victor Barreira)
The Portuguese Navy's Unmanned Vehicles Experimentation Cell (CEOV) is developing a multimission armed unmanned surface vehicle (USV) for operational experimentation, CEOV Commander Marco Pinto Guimarães told Janes.
The USV, called X-2701, is being developed with the support of the Portuguese Navy Ships Support Service for training missions in conditions up to Sea State 4. It will be used to replicate asymmetric threat attacks from small vessels, for surface live-fire training, protection and combat training against asymmetric threats, or for towing an inflatable target. It can also be used to conduct patrol and surveillance missions.
The X-2701 hull is a converted Harding Safety FRB 650 high-speed fast-rescue boat received in 2016 for the Portuguese Navy's Tejo-class patrol boats. The 6.7 m-long rigid V-shaped hull is made of fire-retardant glass fibre-reinforced polyester (GRP).
It is powered by a 170 hp inboard diesel engine, coupled to an Alamarin-Jet AJ 230 water-jet.
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Sikorsky said that the prototype Raider X, its submission for the US Army's Future Attack Reconnaiss...
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Russia/Ukraine - Coming of Age for OSINT?
Assessing threats in the South China Sea
A competitive assessment of the military aircraft market
Case study: Using Interconnected Intelligence to Monitor Russian Troop Movement
Aerojet Rocketdyne shareholders elect CEO slate to board
France, Germany, Sweden launch future transport aircraft
Myanmar MiG-29 violates Thai airspace
US Army merges data analytics, combat management programmes
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