Speaking to state-owned media outlet TASS Russian News Agency on May 6, MiG Aircraft Corp. official Musheg Baloyan said, "The MiG-35 is at the stage of state joint trials and a preliminary certificate has been obtained for launching the production of a pilot batch of the aircraft."

Baloyan added, "The flight personnel are fond of the plane, which is easy to operate and that helps a lot. There are issues that do arise in the process of the aircraft’s operation and we are promptly ironing them out together with our customer," referring to the Russian Ministry of Defense, which has placed an order for the jet. He did not identify what issues had been discovered.

The interview with Baloyan took place on the 30th anniversary of the Swifts aerobatic team. The team, which currently operates older MiG-29s, will transition its fleet to the MiG-35, Baloyan said.

State testing of the MiG-35 is scheduled to conclude this year. The jet, a further development on the MiG-29 family, is equipped with RD-33MK thrust vectoring engines, a digital fly-by-wire flight control system, and an advanced avionics suite comprising a modern glass cockpit designed with three 6x8-inch flat-panel LCDs and full hands-on throttle and stick (HOTAS) controls, a digital map, and a helmet-mounted sight. The aircraft is also equipped with the Zhuk-AE radar and has the ability to fire both air-to-air and air-to-surface guided missiles. Additionally, the number of weapons hardpoints has been increased.

The Ministry of Defense currently has an order for six MiG-35s, inked in 2018, and has been expected to place another order for around a dozen jets.

Source:  TASS Russian News Agency
Associated URL: Click here to visit

Sky Warden is based on the rugged and capable Air Tractor AT-802, which features the largest payload capacity of any single-engine turboprop aircraft. It hosts L3Harris’ world-class family of communications, sensors and airborne ISR solutions. The platform is backed by the company’s extensive turnkey ISR operation experience.

The multi-mission platform provides the operator agility and flexibility to identify, track and react to counter threats. It merges the capabilities of larger ISR and armed aircraft into one resilient package. It is also capable of takeoff and landing on unimproved airstrips - allowing the aircraft to be deployed and co-located with special mission operators.

"Air Tractor aircraft were developed precisely to operate in austere environments with limited infrastructure," said Jim Hirsch, President, Air Tractor, Inc. "Our aircraft are built to offer unparalleled flexibility, essential ingredients for special mission operators."

"Our mission systems, platforms, direct operators and sustainment teams have supported more than 1.3 million combat hours of special operations ISR and attack missions in the past 10 years," said Luke Savoie, President, Aviation Services, L3Harris. "Combining that experience with Air Tractor, one of the largest turboprop aircraft OEMs in the world, enables our team to design and provide a mature platform capable of operating anywhere in the world and provides the tools needed to support any mission."

Sky Warden’s name commemorates two best-in-class, multi-mission special operations combat platforms. It merges the deep history of the Vietnam-era A-1E Sky Raider with the present-day U-28, which uses the callsign "Warden" during combat operations. Sky Warden combines their heritage and capabilities to collapse the stack, providing one aircraft capable of multiple mission roles.

Source:  L3Harris
Associated URL: www.L3Harris.com/SkyWarden.

Work will be performed in Woodland, Washington (70%); Coatesville, Pennsylvania (10%); Wood Dale, Illinois (7%); Stratford, Connecticut (2%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (11%), and is expected to be completed in July 2022.

Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds of $2,218,228; fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds of $5,198,699; and fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds of $15,056,158 will be obligated at time of award, $15,056,158 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Source:  US Navy
Associated URL: navy.mil