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15 Dec 16. White House reportedly blocks Saudi PGM sale. The White House has declined to confirm reports that it has blocked the sale of bomb guidance kits to Saudi Arabia.
The New York Times on 13 December cited administration officials as saying that the White House had decided to block the sale by Raytheon of about 16,000 guided munition kits to Saudi Arabia due to concerns about civilian casualties in the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen.
It added that other arms sales have not been blocked and the United States will continue to refuel Saudi-led coalition aircraft involved in the campaign and provide more intelligence on the Yemeni border. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
15 Dec 16. China unveils 5th-Generation PL-10E AAM. Key Points:
• The PL-10E will be sold as a potential weapons upgrade for existing 4th-generation fighter fleets, or as part of a package with the Chengdu J-10B or Shenyang FC-31 fighter aircraft
• PL-10/PL-10E has a maximum range of 20 km
During the 11th China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition, or Zhuhai Air Show 2016, China unveiled the PL-10E, an export variant of the PL-10 5th-generation short-range imaging infrared (IIR) homing air-to-air missile (AAM), which itself intended to equip the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) 5th-generation stealth fighter aircraft.
The PL-10 SRAAM is produced by the Luoyang-based China Air-to-Air Guided Missile Research Institute (formerly the Luoyang Electro-Optics Technology Development Centre), a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) consortium, and the designer and manufacturer of all infrared (IR) homing variants in China’s PL (Pi Li/Thunderbolt) series AAMs. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
15 Dec 16. Korea to develop air-to-surface missiles for KFX aircraft. South Korea’s military procurement agency, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), has launched a programme to develop an indigenous long-range air-to-surface missile to equip its next-generation Korean Fighter Experimental (KFX) aircraft, a DAPA official confirmed to IHS Jane’s.
The official said that the programme was approved by DAPA’s defence project committee – headed by Defence Minister Han Min-koo – on 14 December and will call for the local development of the missile system from 2018. To progress the programme DAPA is expected to engage with local industry and its Agency for Defense Development (ADD) in 2017 before issuing a contract later that year. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
15 Dec 16. MBDA has successfully tested the lightweight missile, known as Enforcer, as part of its ongoing development programme. The multinational Enforcer team scored several highly accurate hits during guided firings carried out at the trials facility of the German Bundeswehr’s Technical Center for Weapons and Ammunition 91 in November 2016.
The firings with the Enforcer development prototype were conducted at ranges of between 1,000m to 2,000 m and confirmed expectations with regard to the weapon’s homing head, which guided the missile directly to the centre of each of the intended targets. One of the missiles used the new lightweight, carbon-fibre launching tube developed by MBDA in Italy.
“These tests have topped off a successful year of Enforcer development, a year we can look back on and recognise numerous successful firings and other tests,” said Peter Heilmeier, MBDA Deutschland’s Vice President Sales and Business Development. “The direct hits demonstrate that we have made an important step forward in the development programme.”
MBDA plans to begin qualification of this very compact missile over the next few years, followed by preparations for series production. One of the areas MBDA is currently working on is the Bundeswehr’s night fighting capability requirement. In this respect, more guided firings are pla