Weekly Briefing: Air Warfare

The latest Air Warfare news and analysis from Breaking Defense.

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Weekly Briefing Air Warfare

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Spain still interested in F-35: Lockheed exec The Spanish defense ministry put the kibosh on talks of an F-35 buy, but Lockheed's vice president for aeronautics is "pretty confident" that Madrid will need to buy F-35s to replace its Harriers.

F-35 faces stiff competition as European nations decide on future fighters Politics, diplomacy complicate decisions by Finland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland when it comes to the F-35 versus other American and international competitors.

COVID supply chain woes add yearlong delay to first F-16 rollout at new facility The first F-16 produced in Greenville, S.C., won't be ready to begin flying until late 2022, said Greg Ulmer, Lockheed's vice president of aeronautics.

Hypersonic spy planes and cargo transports? Pentagon is interested You can imagine a reusable system that can fly around and drop payloads and come back, or a hypersonic system that can carry other hypersonic systems," said Gillian Bussey, head of DoD's Joint Hypersonics Transition Office.

Russia hopeful UAE will join defense programs, pitching Su-75 Checkmate "The Emiratis are doing a great job in keeping pace with the latest and most advanced technologies on one hand, and we don't put restrictions for cooperation with other countries on the other," said a Rostec official.

Could kinetic warfare go the way of Blockbuster?: US Air Force chief "Now we're somewhere stuck in the thinking that mass needs to be physical," Gen. CQ Brown told officials at the Dubai International Air Chiefs Conference on Nov. 13. "What if we did not have to produce sorties to achieve the same effect?"

Game Changer: The key to Army FVL weapons-systems development is modular open systems [Sponsored] Bell's methodology to meet the Army's Modular Open Systems Approach requirement is enabled by a common digital backbone that will be instantiated on both the V-280 Valor for FLRAA and the Bell 360 Invictus for FARA.

UAE conglomerate EDGE partners with China, US, unveils new homegrown capabilities The UAE announced the opening of the first regional distribution hub for aircraft logistics in Abu Dhabi with Chinese state-backed defense contractor, China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation.

Invest billions in aerial refueling or lose the China fight: Hudson report A new report by the Hudson Institute projects the Pentagon is liable to be outdone by China if it fails to more heavily invested in the Air Force's aerial refueling capabilities.

The MQ-9B is the right solution for mission needs across the Middle East and North Africa. [Sponsored] Maintain real-time situational awareness in key locations with advanced unmanned aerial systems.

EXCLUSIVE: General Atomics is secretly flying a new, heavily armed drone The new yet-unnamed drone can carry up to 16 Hellfire missiles at a time — double the load of an MQ-1C Gray Eagle.

Dubai Airshow 2021 kicks off with safety measures, focus on local industry Above all, the event will support the UAE's "Make it in the Emirates" initiative.

Will the UAE actually get F-35? How Huawei, Russia factor into decision A military source tells Breaking Defense that Emirati leadership understands the severing of ties with Huawei to be a red line on moving the F-35 deal forward.

US Air Force will buy E-7 Wedgetail in 2022, Boeing exec claims "I'm very confident that the Air Force is choosing the E-7 to replace its E-3 fleet," Mike Manazir, Boeing's vice president for defense business development, said during a news conference ahead of the Dubai Airshow.

Dubai Air Show: Fewer top US officials, more Israelis and a new Russian fighter "The world is opening up again, and that means there will be a surge in post-pandemic demand for military systems, likely driven by the Persian Gulf region," said defense consultant Loren Thompson.

F-15EX: Delivering Today For Tomorrow's Missions

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