Airbus and TASL to Establish H125 Helicopter Final Assembly Line in India
Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) has formalised an agreement with Airbus Helicopters to establish the H125 Final Assembly Line (FAL) in India. This marks the first private sector helicopter assembly facility in India, aimed at producing Airbus’ highly sought-after H125 helicopter from its civil range for both India and neighbouring countries.
The contract was finalised at the Farnborough International Airshow 2024, following the initial announcement by Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury and Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran on January 26 of this year.
CEO and managing director of Tata Advanced Systems Limited, Sukaran Singh expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, “We are pleased to partner with Airbus to establish the final assembly line for H125 helicopters in India. This collaboration, built on TASL’s expertise in airborne platforms and our robust partnership with the Airbus Group, aligns perfectly with the ‘Make in India’ initiative. It addresses India’s burgeoning helicopter market potential and enhances the country’s helicopter manufacturing capabilities.”
CEO of Airbus Helicopters, Bruno Even highlighted the strategic importance of local production, stating, “India presents significant opportunities for helicopter operations, and we believe that producing the ‘Made in India’ H125 helicopter is pivotal to unlocking this promising market. We are confident that locally assembled helicopters will open new civil markets, including Helicopter Emergency Medical Services and other critical public services.”
The FAL in India will undertake the integration of major component assemblies, avionics, mission systems, and testing and qualification of the helicopters. It will play a crucial role in delivering helicopters tailored to the diverse needs of Indian and regional customers. Initial deliveries of the ‘Made in India’ H125 helicopters are scheduled to commence in 2026. Tata Advanced Systems and Airbus Helicopters are currently finalising the location for the FAL, with an announcement expected soon.
The H125 helicopter is renowned as the world’s best-selling single-engine helicopter, celebrated for its versatility and performance in various missions such as aerial work, firefighting, law enforcement, and air ambulance services. Part of Airbus’ Ecureuil family, it has amassed over 40 million flight hours globally, demonstrating its reliability and adaptability in high-and-hot and extreme environments.
C-130J Super Hercules Fleet Soars Past Three Million Flight Hours Worldwide
Lockheed Martin announced at the Farnborough International Airshow that the worldwide C-130J Super Hercules fleet recently surpassed three million flight hours. With 545+ Super Hercules delivered worldwide, this achievement reflects the C-130J’s unmatched global reach, multi-mission versatility and proven tactical performance capabilities.
Operators and crews from 21 nations contributed to this achievement, logging hours through 18 different mission requirements including combat, transport, aerial refuelling, Special Operations, medevac, humanitarian relief, search and rescue, weather reconnaissance, firefighting and commercial freight delivery.
“From the highest landing strip in the world to the snow-packed runways of Antarctica and all the many mission locations in between, these three million hours represent the proven power and wide-reaching presence of the C-130J’s global fleet,” said vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Air Mobility & Maritime Missions line of business, Rod McLean. “In celebrating this achievement, we also honour the many crew members, maintainers and airlift partners who truly keep the global Super Hercules fleet ready for any and every mission requirement.”
3 Million Hours By The Numbers
- These hours were logged beginning with the C-130J’s first flight on 5 April 1996.
- Countries with C-130Js contributing to these flight hours include (in order of delivery) the United Kingdom, United States (the USAF, Marine Corps and Coast Guard; Pallas Aviation), Australia, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Canada, India, Qatar, Iraq, Oman, Tunisia, Israel, Kuwait, South Korea, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, France, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Germany.
- Also contributing to these flight hours is the Lockheed Martin Flight Operations team, whose crews are the first to fly every C-130J produced, and the USAF Defence Contract Management Agency crews that support C-130J test flights at Lockheed Martin’s Aeronautics site in Marietta, Georgia, home of Super Hercules production line.
- Super Hercules variants used to log these hours include C-130J and C-130J-30 (tactical airlifter), KC-130J (tanker), WC-130J (weather reconnaissance), EC-130J (information operations), MC-130J (Special Operations), HC-130J (search and rescue, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard variants), AC-130J (gunship) and LM-100J (commercial freighter).
- Hours flown include test, training and operational missions on all seven continents.
The Super Hercules offer a multitude of advantages found in no other medium-sized tactical airlifter in production or operation today. These discriminators include proven operational readiness with the greatest ease of transition, increased reliability, superior tactical airlift and combat airdrop capabilities, certification by more than 20 airworthiness authorities, and engine-out performance with extended range. The C-130J also delivers unmatched interoperability with NATO and global air forces, robust industrial partnerships and verified low life-cycle costs with significant fuel savings resulting in a reduced carbon footprint compared to other medium-sized jet airlifters.
IAI Unveils Air-To-Surface Cruise Missile Wind Demon
Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled the Wind Demon, a new generation of air-to-surface cruise missile, combining new capabilities based on years of experience in missiles and loitering munition development. IAI’s newly developed Wind Demon missile offers a pragmatic response to the changing nature of warfare where affordable mass can deliver lethality.
The Wind Demon offers a novel and compelling capability based on a unique, modularized approach characterized by affordability, adaptability, and advanced capabilities to operate across warfare domains. It was developed following an extensive review that highlighted the need for large quantities of effective ammunition and yet an affordable solution that can neutralize a wide range of targets using minimal resources at greater ranges.
Once fired from an airborne platform, such as a helicopter or patrol aircraft, the Wind Demon follows a predetermined mission plan to meet a moving or stationary target at a range exceeding 200km. Platforms equipped with the Wind Demon, wield advanced standoff advantage. The missile is a ‘self-guided missile’ that also offers ‘man in the loop’ capabilities. This combination of capabilities allows it to approach the enemy at low altitudes from a distance, launch the missile, and disengage.
Equipped with advanced day and night electro-optic and laser homing seekers, Wind Demon delivers precise target detection, discrimination, and classification with pinpoint accuracy for day and night operations. Its warhead, which exceeds 20kg, is adaptable for blast, fragmentation, and penetration effects. Its low flight profile enhances its survivability by avoiding detection and disruption, in combination with its immune navigation suite.
Enhanced connectivity features enable real-time video transmission, person-in-the-loop control, and low altitude hold throughout the mission. Additionally, its selectable fast/slow/fast speed profile allows for high-speed reactions and selective slow velocity approaches at points of interest.
EVP and general manager of the Systems Missiles & Space Group, Guy Barlev said, “We see a growing market demand for effective and affordable systems that will offer attacks in mass. We designed Wind Demon to meet this market demand and it does so by offering significant capabilities at an affordable price point that allows customers to buy the systems in large quantities.”
Boeing Adapts Presence to Prioritize Factory Safety and Quality
Boeing has tailored its presence at the 2024 Farnborough International Airshow as the company focuses on strengthening safety and quality and meeting customer commitments, while also highlighting next generation technologies and capabilities.
“We are concentrated on implementing our comprehensive safety and quality plan and meeting our customer commitments. With these priorities in mind, we have reduced our commercial airplanes display and flight demonstrations at the show, and will focus on new technology, sustainability, security and services solutions,” said president of Boeing Global, Dr Brendan Nelson AO. “The best way to build trust is through high-quality performance in our factories, one airplane at a time.”
Displays and Experiences: The airshow visitors to Boeing’s exhibit experienced immersive and fully interactive product and technology displays spanning Boeing’s portfolio, featuring:
- Sustainability technologies, including the X-66 Sustainable Flight Demonstrator, Boeing ecoDemonstrator and Cascade data-visualization tool to inform decarbonization strategies
- F-15 and other defence product and service experiences
- Cabin products and demonstrations of Boeing’s joint all-domain command and control and environmental modeling capabilities
- Boeing’s portfolio of freighter programmes
- A full-size 777X interior section highlighting the airplane’s wider cabin, larger windows and spacious architecture. The 777X family has more than 480 orders from leading customers around the globe
Boeing-produced products on display will included F-15QA fighter jet with two differently configured aircraft performing aerial demonstrations, Qatar Airways 787-9 Dreamliner on static display, a USAF F-15E, US Army AH-64E Apache, CH-47F Chinook and US Navy P-8A Poseidon in the US Department of Defence corral.
Wisk Aero, a wholly-owned Boeing subsidiary, exhibited its Generation 6 aircraft–the world’s first all-electric, autonomous eVTOL air taxi. The four-seat aircraft promises to bring safe everyday flight to all once certified and in service.
MBDA Showcases an Array of Innovative Systems and Technologies
For the first time at Farnborough International Airshow, MBDA showcased its new MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defence System) VSHORAD (Very Short Range Air Defence) solution, under development for the Italian Army and ready to be marketed to export customers.
The new VSHORAD missile is a supersonic, fire and forget, all-day interceptor, equipped by a seeker with image processing capabilities. It can target fighters, helicopters, small drones. Its design will allow a smooth integration either on current (VTLM2 by IDV with Leonardo turret, as displayed on MBDA stand) and on future vehicles, equipped by automated turrets.
Being man-portable, this VSHORAD solution will be suitable for paratroops and amphibious forces, while giving tactical advantage when mounted on military vehicles. This VSHORAD system will also be integrated in Sky Warden, MBDA’s modular, scalable, and evolvable flagship system to counter unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS).
The system is in development following an Italian Army operational requirement expressed last year for a very short-range man portable air defence missile. The system characteristics and performances are fully compliant with NATO standards.
Capitalizing on MBDA’s know-how in the design and development of air defence systems, the new missile will contribute to reinforce the company’s offer for a European multi-layer air defence capability, ranging from very short to the future Anti-Ballistic-Hypersonic Defence.
New Effector Concept: Also on display was a new effector concept for its Sky Warden counter-uncrewed aerial systems (C-UAS) modular solution. The new effector concept is a ground launched anti-air munition targeting threats that include Class 1 & smaller Class 2 small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS) and Loitering Munitions. Collaborating with Fortem Technologies and utilising their DroneHunter® technology, the concept enables the rapid incorporation of a warhead on a drone to defeat threats at lower cost. Tests of the munition has proved its effectiveness and lethality.
Said CEO of MBDA, Éric Béranger: “Our flagship Sky Warden modular C-UAS system is designed to evolve at the same rapid speed as the drone threat the world now faces, as demonstrated so effectively in recent trials. This latest effector solution shows MBDA in our best light: innovative and agile, adapting to the environment around us, and anticipating our customers’ needs. The exciting advance MBDA have made with this effector is in creating an independent warhead design that operators can add to a drone in the battlefield. It demonstrates our collaboration DNA, partnering with an emerging technology company to create a new low-cost counter drone effector.”
The company will also draw on its recent successful operational demonstration, where MBDA’s flagship C-UAS solution demonstrated its capabilities to 17 customer delegations.
These recent customer demonstrations saw Sky Warden faced with a wide range of offensive drone threats–with varying kinetic characteristics and in realistic operational scenarios–neutralising them all. Using artificial intelligence (AI) to assist its human operators to identify and classify the different threats from its full set of sensors (radar, passive RF, electro-optical cameras, etc.), Sky Warden automatically assigned to the most appropriate and available effector maximising the efficiency. In the threat scenarios Sky Warden faced, it blocked attacking drones with jammers, captured them with hunter drones, neutralised them in rapid sequence by laser, and destroyed a ‘shahed-like’ drone with a Mistral 3 missile at very long distance.
With the tests of its new effector concept and the recent demonstration in Italy, MBDA sees an RF guided drone-style effector with a directional fragmenting warhead complementing the effects that Sky Warden already provides, giving customers more options to adapt it to their preferred needs.
Drawn from MBDA’s wide experience in air defence and effects management, Sky Warden is a scalable system that can effectively neutralise any form of threat, from tactical drones to reconnaissance mini-drones, as well as other traditional ‘air breathing’ threats. The system manages the full C-UAS kill chain from detection to neutralisation and is designed to operate both as an integrated component in a layered air defence architecture, or in a standalone configuration. Using a networked eco-system of constantly evolving sensors and effectors, Sky Warden matches the UAS threat and its evolutions.
Whether vehicle mounted or dismounted, Sky Warden satisfies the need for both mobility and deployment. Being modular, scalable, and evolvable, customer can tailor Sky Warden to their specific requirements.
GCAP Unveil New Concept Model of NexGen Combat Aircraft
The three nations of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP)–UK, Italy, and Japan–unveiled a new concept model of their next generation combat aircraft at Farnborough International Airshow.
Exhibiting at the show together for the first time, the three GCAP government partners and their lead industry partners BAE Systems (UK), Leonardo (Italy) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan) showcased the significant strides they are making to progress the delivery of a next generation combat aircraft.
The new concept model on display in Hall 5 featured a much more evolved design with a wingspan larger than previous concepts to improve the aerodynamics of the future combat aircraft. Engineers from across BAE Systems, Leonardo and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are working together under a collaboration agreement on the design and development of the future combat aircraft using a range of innovative digital tools and techniques, including computer based modelling and virtual reality to evolve the aircraft’s design during its concepting phase.
Chief Global Combat Air Programme Officer, Leonardo, Guglielmo Maviglia said, “The pace of the programme is extraordinary, building on a solid foundation and industrial legacy in each country and government-led partnership. Since the treaty was signed in December 2023, the programme has seen strong commitment from each partner. Each brings different, but complementary, qualities and requirements. We are now working closely together to exchange knowledge, address common challenges and achieve common goals. The programme is immensely important for Italy, for Leonardo, including our UK-based business, and for wider Italian industry. GCAP represents the future of combat air in a System of Systems perspective for our generations to come.”
Managing Director, Future Combat Air Systems, BAE Systems, Herman Claesen said, “In the 18 months since the launch of the Global Combat Air Programme, we’ve been working closely with our industrial partners in Italy and Japan under the collaboration agreement, and also with the three governments, to understand and align requirements for a next generation combat aircraft. The new model… shows notable progress in the design and concepting of this future fighter jet. We’ll continue to test and evolve the design, as we move closer towards the next phase of the programme.”
Senior Fellow, GCAP, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Hitoshi Shiraishi said: “MHI considers any project to be a valuable opportunity to deepen our knowledge. In particular, since GCAP is a three-country joint development programme between Japan, UK and Italy, we expect to obtain better results and deeper knowledge than ever before by combining the different cultures, experiences and knowledge of the three industries involved. I also hope that this GCAP programme, with the broad participation of Japan’s defence companies, will foster innovation in the country’s industrial sector such as digital transformation, as well as the development of human resources in the field of science and technology.”
The combat aircraft, set to be in service in 2035, will be one of the world’s most advanced, interoperable, adaptable and connected fighter jets in service, boasting an intelligent weapons system, a software-driven interactive cockpit, integrated sensors and a powerful next generation radar capable of providing 10,000 times more data than current systems, giving it a battle-winning advantage.
GCAP is a strategically important partnership, bringing together the governments of the UK, Italy and Japan, and their respective industries, to collaborate on shared military and industrial objectives in the delivery of a next generation combat air capability. The programme is hugely significant for the security, political and economic prosperity of each nation and through effective knowledge and technology transfer will help to evolve and deliver important sovereign combat air capability in each nation, for generations to come.
GCAP is set to employ tens of thousands of skilled people across the UK, Italy and Japan, growing industrial skills and technologies for the future. The next generation combat aircraft being developed by GCAP will be known as Tempest in the UK. The lead sub-system integrators on the programme are: Avio Aero (Italy), ELT Group (Italy), IHI (Japan), Leonardo (Italy and UK), MBDA (Italy and UK), Mitsubishi Electric (Japan) and Rolls-Royce (UK).