Royal Thai Air Forces’ bid for Saab’s Gripens backed by defence minister
The Thai government minister expressed confidence in the aircraft type, noting that a decision on the selection process between the Gripen and F-16 would be “made soon”.
Carolina Unmanned Vehicles (CUV) has successfully completed support a test series supporting the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic Naval Innovative Science and Engineering (NISE) Project, Tactical Deployable Mobile User Objective System (MUOS).
The project aims to enable assured tactical communications by employing a UAS with a communications surrogate payload.
CUV support included an integration test and two system demonstrations. The two demonstrations were in conjunction with Advanced Naval Technology Exercise in April 2021 and the Trident Warrior Exercises.
The testing used the CUV Engineering test Unit 3 (ETU3), a developmental platform for the Small Tactical Multi-Payload Aerostat System (STMPAS).
STMPAS is a mobile, trailer-mounted, tactical aerostat suitable for military missions such as persistent, 24/7 ISR, long-range C3 relay (60+miles) and acting as a C3 translation node.
Suited for border surveillance and post-disaster emergency communications, it can maintain continuous BVLoS communication to low-altitude UAS at extended ranges.
It has a minimum crew size of two technicians and is C-130 Roll-on Roll-off capable.
Previous versions of STMPAS were deployed by the Army to provide ISR capability for small tactical units in Afghanistan.
The current version of STMPAS provides an improved launch timeline and allows movement of the system with the Helikite inflated atop the trailer.
The Thai government minister expressed confidence in the aircraft type, noting that a decision on the selection process between the Gripen and F-16 would be “made soon”.
The Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) report highlighted issues with opening the programme to other international partners, as well as notable gaps in future training requirement for the sixth-generation aircraft.
More than 100 hours of physical flight have taken place since the first flight of MQ-28 Ghost Bat uncrewed aerial system (UAS) four years ago and this has been underpinned by approximately 20,000 hours of flying the digital twin.
The air force converted options from its original August 2024 deal for five additional aircraft, rounding its total out to six firm orders.
The US Missile Defence Agency (MDA) teamed up with other Department of Defense organisations, industry and academia to conduct the test.
The five-year contract is reportedly the largest provision of uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) support for use by the US Navy (USN) and will run until late 2029.