29 Apr 15. Turkey Approves Regional Jet, Fighter Program. A top Turkish government body for procurement has approved two multibillion dollar indigenous programs; one for a regional jet and the other for a national fighter aircraft. The Defense Industry Executive Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, convened Monday. The meeting had been called on unusually short notice, the previous Friday, a senior official said. The committee brings together, along with the prime minister, Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz; Army Gen. Necdet Ozel, chief of the military General Staff; Army Gen. Necdet Ozel; and chief procurement official, Ismail Demir. No announcement was made after the meeting. The procurement official said that the committee gave a critical go-ahead to plans for the design, development and production of an indigenous regional jet, based on a Dornier model, with both military and civilian use. Turkey hopes to build the aircraft for military missions in the Air Force and the Navy. Hundreds of aircraft will be produced for aerial, border and naval surveillance, small cargo transport, and ambulance missions. The committee also decided to go ahead with the second phase of the country’s indigenous fighter jet program. The government will allocate up to $1bn for the second phase. Turkey wants to fly its “national fighter jet” by 2023. (Source: Defense News)
28 Apr 15. Belarus looking to fully replace L-39s with Yak-130s. News reports from Belarus have cited officials as confirming that Belarus is looking to fully replace the L-39 trainer/attack aircraft with Russian-made Yak-130 advanced jet trainers/light attack aircraft by 2020.
Furthermore, Major-General Oleg Dvigalev, Chief of the Belarusian Air Force, told the media on 27 April that the country may place an order for four Yak-130 aircraft from Russia. According to media reports, the negotiations “for the purchase of the first flight of four aircraft Yak-130 is in its final stages.” There would be an option to purchase additional Yak-130s as a follow-on contract. (Source: MPI – Hawk Information)
28 Apr 15. Bulgaria – Air Force may retire MiG-29s; what next? Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev announced that the country’s air force could retire its MiG-29 fighter jets in September this year. The current maintenance contract for Bulgaria’s jets expires on September 9 and Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev has refused to renew it citing that the Russian offer was unfavourable. This means that the Bulgarian Air Force could retire its Mig-29 fighter jets in September. What are the options that Bulgaria has at hand? As things stand, Bulgaria appears to be negotiating a deal with Poland for the possible maintenance of Mig-
29 aircraft in Poland. Additionally, it is possible that Bulgaria is discussing further co-operation with NATO to identify potential collaborations and find an alternative to the Russian maintenance proposal. Lastly, Bulgaria could consider second-hand options from other countries, with a possible option being surplus F-16 aircraft from the US Air National Guard. The current turn of events has made it evident to the industry and other countries that the Bulgarian Air Force has a capability gap in its combat aircraft fleet.
(Source: MPI – Hawk Information)
16 Apr 15. CANADA – Industry feedback wanted for police mobile radio. A Request for Information (RFI) has been issued concerning the potential requirement for a Land Mobile Radio for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). According to the RFI, the potential work scope would include “delivering a combination of equipment and services for the purposes of seamlessly transitioning from the three existing radio systems currently in use, to an upgraded system/service that would meet the Statement of Work.” Responses to the RFI should address:
• The feasibility of using the 700MHz Public Safety Band as a proposal to meet this Statement of Work.
• The estimated cost of providing the