Tony Osborne
@Rotorfocus
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European Defence Editor at Aviation Week, proud hubby to Dr Kubi, aircraft photographer (Canon user, obvs), RIAT volunteer, and #antigrowthcoalition member.
Here and there!
Joined August 2011
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Low-cost tactical UAVs up against high value, double-digit SAMs in a contested environment, TB2s proving themselves once again.
Байрактари в роботі. Наші оператори ювелірно криють колони ворожих військ. Знищено російський БУК в районі Малина Житомирської області.
Бійтеся, вороги! Не буде вам спокою на нашій землі!
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Finally, the US Army has selected
@BellFlight
’s tiltrotor V-280
#Valor
as its
#FLRAA
platform to eventually replace the UH-60 Black Hawk. Game changing decision for the US rotorcraft industry and transformative for Bell itself…
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Bayraktar TB2s got a rough ride in
#Ukraine
, lots of compelling footage collected in first days of the conflict, and this was drip fed over several months by
#Kyiv
, high loss rate in the first weeks of the conflict.
#InternationalFighter
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A taster of the rather grand F-16 line-up at this year's
@airtattoo
which is marking 50 years of the lightweight
@LockheedMartin
-made fighter aircraft.
#RIAT
#RIAT24
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One of the highlights of today's rather cloudy
#AnatolianEagle
media day at
#Konya
was the debut appearance of the fifth prototype (PT-5)
@BaykarTech
#Akinci
UCAV/SIHA. It has been performing ISR missions as part of the exercise along with THK
#Anka
UAV.
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Some images of
#Portugal
's first
@embraer
C-390
#Millennium
have been released by the manufacturer. Portugal is the first of three European customers to order the new airlifter.
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Defence secretary,
@BWallaceMP
reveals that a Russian AF Su-27 'Flanker' released a missile near a
@RoyalAirForce
RC-135 Rivet Joint on Sept. 29. A Russian AF investigation says it was a technical malfunction with the Su-27, he says.
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The U.S. State Department has approved
#Poland
's huge
@BoeingDefense
#Apache
helicopter request, 96 helicopters, and no fewer than 1,800
#Hellfire
and 460
#JAGM
. Poland will be the biggest operator of the AH-64 outside the U.S.
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#Switzerland
will buy 36 F-35s, stating the aircraft was cheaper, better product support and cooperation, defense minister Viola Amherd says.
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Impressive video of the
#Kaan
in flight here...
KAAN,
#G
ökVatan'ı ile buluştu.🇹🇷
.
Cumhurbaşkanımız Sayın
@RTErdogan
’ın savunma sanayiinde ülkemize çizdiği yerlilik ve millilik vizyonunun kilometre taşlarından olacak bir gelişmeyi daha tarihimize kazıdık. Hamdolsun…
.
Milli Muharip Uçağımız KAAN’ın ilk uçuşu milletimize
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Night operations on
@HMSQnlz
taken on September 29, four days after the first landing. Spectacular image, not sure who took it but from
@LockheedMartin
Flickr.
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Wow, unexpected, but the
@Kon_Luchtmacht
has selected the
@embraer
KC-390 as its C-130
#Hercules
replacement. Original expectation was that the
#RNLAF
would opt for the C-130J.
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Think I am a little green with envy, that's a pretty epic and iconic image.
#StealthsinBritain
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That's different...
Bayraktar TB2 Drone Autonomous Barrel Roll, first of its kind for a UCAV.
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The shape of
#GCAP
/
#Tempest
appears to be firming up here in Italy too, as the
@ItalianAirForce
continues to celebrate its centenary year.
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#Norway
is to permanently halt operations with its
@NHIndustriesSAS
#NH90
fleet immediately, citing fleet availability problems. The type is flying just 700 hours of the expected 3,900 hours a year, the Norwegian MoD has announced this morning.
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Wouldn't it be nice if the
@RoyalAirForce
could do this with its tankers...
Epic image by the
@Armee_de_lair
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From TF-X/MMU to Kaan
Left - TF-X/MMU proposed configurations 2013
Right - February 21, 2024 - Kaan first flight
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The wonderful
@northropgrumman
F-14
#Tomcat
is 50 today, what a machine and still going strong, so glad I made an effort to get some
@USNavy
examples in front of my camera lens before the end.
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Not just Brits, it was believed to a French guy who ejected from a PLAAF JL-10 back in April...
NEW: China has recruited dozens of former British military pilots to teach the Chinese armed forces how to defeat western warplanes & helicopters in a “threat to UK interests”, officials have revealed.
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Impressive, one of the most capable fighter fleets in Europe, and arguably the most under-utilised…but what does the HAF actually do?
Hellenic Air Force's Combat Aircraft Active Inventory
8 Rafale EG/DG
153 F-16 (Block 72, Block 52+/ADV, Block 50, Block 30)
24 Mirage 2000-5 Mk2
34 F-4E PI2000
Total: 219
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Just hours after confirming deal for
#Rafale
,
#Indonesia
has been approved to buy a variant of
@BoeingDefense
's Advanced Eagle, the F-15ID. A $13.9 billion package includes 36 aircraft, engines, pods, but no weapons.
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Hello to what it is arguably Europe’s newest crewed combat aircraft, the
@LDO_Helicopters
#AW249
/
#AH249
making its public debut at
#eurosatory24
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Looks like a F-35 made an emergency landing in Ibiza...from
@HMSQNLZ
? Looks like a Marine Corp jet.
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Get in front my camera lens...the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) have done a fabulous job painting up this F-16 to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Photo: Peder Mathisen
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Turkish Aerospace
#Aksungur
UAV/IHA stays airborne for 49 hours, impressive endurance for the new twin engine platform.
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Defence Secretary
@BWallaceMP
cites recent
#Turkish
use of
@Baykar
-made UAVs and EW systems and their use in Libya and Syria respectively, "Even if half the claims are true, the implications are game-changing," he says.
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India's HAL Tejas Trainer proposed as future US Navy trainer...good luck with that.
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Saturday's
#DubaiAirshow
flypast rehearsal saw two
#UAEAF
Mirage 2000s carrying the
@LockheedMartin
#Sniper
pod, this might be one of the first sightings of the Mirage with this pod since it was selected by the service in 2020.
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Poland showed off some of its new aircraft today during the
#SilnaBia
łoCzerwona parade in
#Warsaw
today including the first two
#KAI
FA-50GFs and what looks like the first of 32
@LDO_Helicopters
#AW149
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The first
@BoeingDefense
/
@Saab
T-7 Red Hawk for the
#USAF
has been rolled out in St Louis and is wearing its Air Education and Training Command colour scheme.
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The
@ItalianAirForce
's glorious Panavia
#Tornado
painted up to mark 50 years of the tri-national European combat aircraft which was taxied up and down the ramp at
@airtattoo
to the delight of the photographers.
#RIAT
#RIAT24
#aircraftcatwalk
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Seems the
@Esercito
’s new
@LDO_Helicopters
AH-249/AW249 is being named the
#Phoenix
or
#Fenice
. Two prototypes now flying, with official public unveiling in the near future, Army Aviation Chief tells
#IMHelicon
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It seems the chaps at
@AntonovCompany
have been raiding their archives and found images of this odd An-14 derivative, An-14SH which was trialled with air-cushion landing gear, flew for the first time today in 1983.
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An image of
@Offutt_AFB
's first WC-135R has emerged on L3 Harris' LinkedIn page. Three WC-135R Constant Phoenix platforms are being readied for the Air Force's airborne sniffing program.
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Another new attack helicopter emerges and flies in what has been a tumultuous week of firsts for Turkish aviation.
#ATAK2
İstanbul’daki TEKNOFEST coşkusuna Ankara’dan müjdeli bir selam ile katılıyoruz 👋
Ağır Sınıf Taarruz Helikopterimiz ATAK-2 ilk kez havalandı.
@TUSAS_TR
ve katkıda bulunan tüm paydaşlarımızı tebrik ediyoruz. 👏 🚁
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The expert speaking here says that the arrival of more systems allowed them to restart TB2 operations and they are continuing, but losses were high early on.
#internationalfighter
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Fair to say if you are at
#DubaiAirshow
then you need to make sure you drop everything to see this, it is far and away the best display you will see at the show.
Arguably one of the best demonstrations by a Western combat aircraft I have seen in recent years.
Word on the street ahead of
#DubaiAirShow
is the Boeing F-15QA display this week is gonna rock your world. FBW, no pylons and no conformal FAST fuel tanks is gonna show what an Eagle can really do!
#avgeek
(pic
@Rotorfocus
)
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A trio of
@ItalianAirForce
Eurofighters interecept a
#Danish
@Sikorsky
MH-60R near Iceland in this fabulous image published by the Danish Air Force. The low-speed AoA on the EF2000s is rather impressive.
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Blades have begun turning on
@BellHelicopter
's V-280
#Valor
, note the deliberate blurring of the innards of the tilt mechanism.
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This would explain why
@RoyalAirForce
#Typhoons
have been flying with the Rivet Joints in recent days. Wallace says he paused RC-135 flights temporarily after the incident but have since restarted.
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That simultaneous
#SpaceX
#FalconHeavy
booster landing at
#CapeCanaveral
is one of the most impressive sights in spaceflight I have seen, just awesome.
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After visiting
#MSPO2022
in
#Poland
it struck me that the UK MoD/Army's decision not to integrate the
@byMBDA
#Brimstone
onto
@BoeingDefense
's
#Apache
could emerge to be very short sighted indeed... 1/3
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#Indonesia
's contract for
@AirbusDefence
#A400M
is now in effect, Jean-Brice Dumont, head of military air systems tells the
#AirbusTMB
. Two aircraft on order, with options for four.
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The
#UAE
Air Force has announced plans to purchase 12 CATIC Hongdu L-15 jet trainers from China with options for a further 36 aircraft.
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Safe to say there was a little squeal of excitement unleashed this afternoon with the arrival of these Royal Moroccan Air Force
@LockheedMartin
F-16s at
#Fairford
ahead of the
@airtattoo
this weekend.
#RIAT
#airtattoo
#RIAT24
#starvisitor
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#Italy
will retire the epic
@LDO_Aircraft
/
@Embraer
AMX tomorrow in a ceremony at Istrana AB after 35 years of operation. It is one of the last light combat aircraft in service anywhere in Europe. Its retirement means the
@ItalianAirForce
will be reliant on three fighter types.
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The
#Eurodrone
is being displayed at
#ILAAirshow
#ILA24
with several maritime weapons and payloads including a sonobuoy launcher, air-dropped torpedo and the
@MBDAGroup
Marte-ER anti-ship missile, as the four partner nations explore additional roles for the twin-engine UAS.
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Say goodbye to the
@RoyalAirForce
's Lockheed Martin C-130J
#Hercules
fleet. The UK operated around 85 C-130s through its 60-year career with the RAF in K and J-models. C-130J will be gone by the end of 2023.
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That is a picture of an Su-24 with a Storm Shadow fitted to it...
I was glad to host my great friend Ben Wallace,
@BWallaceMP
, in Kyiv.
We had a very meaningful discussion focused on priorities for increasing Ukraine’s defense capabilities, particularly providing long-range weapons such as Storm Shadow.
We also discussed prospects for
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All these 747-400s were younger than the Hawks flown by the team.
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The
@RoyalAirForce
has surged two of the reserve fleet of
@AirTanker
#Voyagers
into service in response to increased demand for aerial refuelling in Eastern Europe. The RAF now has 10 AAR-capable A330 MRTTs.
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Massive Christmas boost for
@LDO_Helicopters
in
#Yeovil
, it has finally secured the upgrade of the
@RCAF_ARC
's CH-149
#Cormorant
SAR helicopters which will also lead to an increased fleet size from 13 to 16 helicopters. Contract worth CDN$1.168 billion.
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Better view of the backend…looking like a delta winged, tailless F-22…
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Commander
@US_EUCOM
, Gen. Tod Wolters says the USAF F-35s based in Europe have been conducting "some elegant ISR activities," in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during HASC hearings.
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Fairly sure that's the Turkish intelligence agency's (MIT) Challenger 604 TT4010 on the ground at
#Kabul
. Compare with:
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Another one of the
@USNavy
visitors to the
@DubaiAirshow
was this rather snazzy
@BoeingDefense
F/A-18F Super Hornet of VFA-103 Jolly Rogers off the
@CVN_72
kitted out in the five-wet configuration for aerial refuelling.
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Stonkingly rare aircraft, off to the U.S. for refit...
Seen arriving at
@RAFWaddington
this morning in wind and rain, Royal Saudi Air Force Boeing RE-3A TASS (Tactical Airborne Surveillance System) 1901, direct from Prince Sultan AB.
After 20 years of aviation photography, this goes straight to the top of my list, ultra-rare!
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#Portugal
's (
@fap_pt
) second
@embraer
C-390
#Millennium
arriving at
#Fairford
ahead of this weekend's
@airtattoo
. This type likely to be a more common sight in the coming years in Europe as the type is adopted by
#Austria
,
#Czechia
,
#Hungary
and the
#Netherlands
.
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The head of Eurofighter GmbH, (
@eurofighter
) Giancarlo Mezzanatto, tells
#ParisAirShow
#LeBourget
journalists that he believes as many as 150-200
#Typhoons
could be ordered in the next two years, could be a significant boost for the program.
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Later today, the
@RoyalAirForce
will more than doubled the size of its UK-based F-35 fleet, with five more aircraft due to arrive at Marham this evening, adding to the four already here.
#F35toUK
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Google Earth [
@googleearth
] has caught some interesting activities at
#Larissa
AB,
#Greece
with what appears to be a U.S. Global Hawk on the ground, and also new structures perhaps U.S. funded to support those activities?
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Certainly one of the stranger rotorcraft stories I have seen recently, Moldovan authorities shut down an illegal helicopter factory that was building
#Kamov
Ka-26 lookalikes. 10 were found in various stages of completion, several had been test flown, according to detainees.
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#Fairford
-based
@AFGlobalStrike
B-52s have been flying several Baltic sorties since they arrived earlier this month, but this is one of the most impressive images released so far,
#Aero81
escorted by
#RNoAF
F-16s.
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Airbus (
@AirbusDefence
) has painted the vertical stabiliser of the prototype
#C295
marking 500,000 flying hours of the type with the various operating nations.
#AirbusTMB
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The first F-35 for
#Turkey
(18-0001) has been revealed, flanked by two Turkish weapons HGK/KGK and SOM-J.
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30 years after the U.S. Army retired the
@Sikorsky
CH-54 Tarhe,
@EricksonInc
is proposing a modernized version of the aircraft, the S-64F+ as an optionally-manned heavylift logistics platform to free up Chinooks and CH-53Ks for the front line. Story to come.
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Been waiting for these, first images of
@flymcaa
and
@RoyalAirForce
/
@RoyalNavy
F-35B arrayed on the deck of
@HMSQNLZ
Not quite a full deck yet, still plenty of space for getting some more jets onboard.
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Night-time imagery of some of the five
@RoyalAirForce
and
@RoyalNavy
F-35s which touched down at
#Marham
on Friday after their Atlantic crossing.
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USAFE (
@HQUSAFEAFAF
) and NATO Air Commander (
@NATO_AIRCOM
) Gen. James Hecker says that 50-60 Ukrainian aircraft have been downed during the conflict.
#internationalfighter
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CORRECTION: A
@usairforce
C-17 Globemaster III safely transported 823 Afghan citizens from Hamid Karzai International Airport Aug. 15, 2021. This is a record for this aircraft.
The initial count of 640 inadvertently included only adults. 183 children were also aboard.
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Hellenic AF F-16s are exercising in Saudi Arabia.
اكتمال وصول مجموعة القوات الجوية اليونانية المشاركة في #تمرين_عين_الصقر_2 بقاعدة الملك فيصل الجوية بالقطاع الشمالي.
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#Hurkus
turboprop trainers are on their way to
#Farnborough
to make their UK debut, would obviously have looked better at
#RIAT
. Due to arrive in the UK on Tuesday.
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Some great images released by
@TUSAS_TR
of the first flight performed by the P1 prototype of the
#T625
#Gokbey
utility helicopter, powered by two
@RollsRoyce
/
@Honeywell_Aero
LHTEC T800 engines.
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Some images have been released by
@HQUSAFEAFAF
of
#Fairford
's
@AFGlobalStrike
B-2
#Spirit
being escorted by
@48FighterWing
F-15Cs. Three B-2s arrived in the UK today.
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Wow, not something you see everyday...
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#Spain
will build the fuselage of the
#Eurodrone
and then transport it to a "plateau" or final assembly line in Manching,
#Germany
@AirbusDefence
's Jana Rosenmann, this is the first real bit of detail about how the platform will be developed. Contract signing expected Q1 2021
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Glad to hear the pilot of the 617 Sqn F-35B is safe. This is understood to be the first non-US loss of an F-35B, the type is currently only operated by the UK, U.S. Marines and the Italian Navy.
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UAE’s
@_edgegroup
displaying a model of their new 290km cruise missile, the Saber 220
#DAS21
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#Norway
's first
@BoeingDefense
P-8
#Poseidon
emerges from the paint shop wearing the Saint markings of 333skv. Images from
@FMateriell
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#Poland
becomes the first
#NATO
nation to buy
#Turkish
UAVs/IHAs, demonstration of just how far Turkish UAV technology has come, of course cost will be a big player in this too.
Bu gurur milletimizin...
NATO ve AB üyesi olan stratejik ortağımız Polonya'ya katma değeri en yüksek ürünlerimizden biri olan
#BayraktarTB2
SİHA'ları ihraç ediyoruz.
🇹🇷🤝🇵🇱
#MilliTeknolojiHamlesi
kendine güvenen ve azimle çalışan milletimizi dünyada hak ettiği yere taşıyor!
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As if by magic, on the morning of
#ILA24
#ILAAirshow
the first picture of first modified Global business jet for
@Team_Luftwaffe
’s Pegasus Sigint program has emerged from OEM
@Bombardier
and
@LHTechnik
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Looking lovely in the late
#DubaiAirshow
sunshine, this is the
@BoeingAirplanes
787-10 making its debut here.
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Having written on the various steps in its development, its very cool to see
@AirbusHeli
's
#RACER
@clean_aviation
technology demonstrator finally getting air underneath its wheels in Marseille today. Another step in pursuing European high-speed rotorcraft flight. Pics: Airbus
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We appear to have a NATO codename for Kinzhal, AS-24 ‘Killjoy.’
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 1 November 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response:
🇺🇦
#StandWithUkraine
🇺🇦
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