INDIAN ARMED FORCES CHIEFS ON
OUR RELENTLESS AND FOCUSED PUBLISHING EFFORTS

 
SP Guide Publications puts forth a well compiled articulation of issues, pursuits and accomplishments of the Indian Army, over the years

— General Manoj Pande, Indian Army Chief

 
 
I am confident that SP Guide Publications would continue to inform, inspire and influence.

— Admiral R. Hari Kumar, Indian Navy Chief

My compliments to SP Guide Publications for informative and credible reportage on contemporary aerospace issues over the past six decades.

— Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari, Indian Air Force Chief
       

Quick RoundUp

Issue: 12-2019

AIRBUS

easyJet has exercised purchase rights to increase its fleet of A320neos by 12 new aircraft. The agreement takes the carrier’s total order for the A320neo Family to 159 aircraft and its overall orders for Airbus single aisles to 480 A320 Family.

flynas, Saudi Arabia’s first low-cost airline, has signed a firm order for 10 A321XLRs at the 2019 Dubai Airshow. The agreement was signed by Bandar Almohanna, flynas Chief Executive Officer and Christian Scherer Airbus Chief Commercial Officer. In 2016, flynas signed an agreement for 80 A320neo family and currently operates a fleet of 27 A320ceos and four A-320neos.

BELL BOEING

Bell Boeing Joint Project Office, Maryland, has been awarded a maximum $379,377,099 firm-fixed-price requirements contract for maintenance, repair and consumable material support for the V-22 platform. This is a five-year base contract with one five-year option period with a November 20, 2024 as performance completion date.

BOEING

Boeing and the Republic of Ghana have announced that the country intends to re-launch an airline starting with the 787-9 Dreamliner. The parties signed a memorandum of understanding at the Dubai Airshow for three airplanes valued at $877.5 million according to list prices.

Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, has announced on November 20,2019 that it has signed a full purchase agreement for 30 Boeing 787-9 aircraft worth $ 8.8 billion at list prices, at the Dubai Airshow 2019. Under its agreement with Boeing, Emirates has exercised its right to substitute the B777x with B787s.

Kazakh flag carrier and Boeing announced at the Dubai Airshow that Air Astana intends to order 30 Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes to serve as the backbone of its new low-cost airline FlyArystan. The companies today signed a letter of intent for the 30 airplanes with a list price value of $3.6 billion.

CFMI

Qatar Airways has announced that it has ordered CFM International LEAP-1A engines to power its new fleet of 50 Airbus A-321neo family aircraft, placing the largest A-321neo order ever in the Middle East. Qatar has also signed with CFM a Rate-Per-Flight-Hour (RPFH) support agreement to cover its entire fleet of LEAP-1A engines, including spares, for a combined total value of $4 billion at list price.

DSCA

The State Department has made a determination approving a possible FMS to Morocco of 36 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and related equipment for an estimated cost of $4.25 billion. The Defence Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on November 19, 2019.

DASSAULT AVIATION

According to Dassault Aviation’s CEO, France and Germany have reached an agreement on their joint fighter program and are expected to award a contract to demonstrate the validity of the planned technology by January 2020. Talks about a separate contract for its engine could be concluded this year.

F-35

In a span of eight demanding months, four 62nd Fighter Squadron student pilots - two US and two Norwegian, will learn the ins-and-outs of the F-35A Lightning II as they train through the first-ever allied F-35 B-course. The 62nd Fighter Squadron was activated in January 2015 as a joint international effort between Italy, Norway and the US for F-35 training.

GECAS

GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), the commercial aircraft leasing and financing arm of General Electric, has signed a firm order for 12 highly efficient wide-body Airbus A330neos and 20 long-range single-aisle A-321XLRs. The latest order takes the total number of A330 Family aircraft ordered by GECAS to 45 and all variants of the A320 Family to 588.

L3HARIS

L3Harris Technologies has been awarded a project agreement under the SOSSEC Consortium’s Air Force Open System Acquisition Initiative (OSAI) Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) for prototyping to demonstrate a new electronic warfare solution for the US Air Force F-16 multirole fighter - helping to protect the aircraft against threats.

As part of the Alpha Phase of the Air Force’s F-16 Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite Programme Prototype Project, L3Harris will develop and test an integrated digital radar warning receiver electronic countermeasures solution. L3Harris’ solution is based on the company’s combat-proven technologies.

LEONARDO

Leonardo has delivered the first of the 22 latest-generation AW169M light intermediate twin-engine helicopters for Italy’s Guardia di Finanza. The initial delivery is linked to a contract worth Euros 280 million which was signed at the end of 2018. It also includes a complete support and training package that could be extended in the future for further services with an additional value of Euros 100 million.

NASA

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has purchased $3.9-billion worth of seats from Russia to transport its astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) since July 2011, says NASA Inspector General Paul Martin’s report published on NASA official website.