Based in London, Tony covers European defense programs. Prior to joining Aviation Week in November 2012, Tony was at Shephard Media Group where he was deputy editor for Rotorhub and Defence Helicopter magazines. Tony has covered avionics, unmanned vehicles, the supply chain and cyberwarfare.
AgustaWestland, Airbus and Bell will make their mark this year with a new class of commercial helicopter. Described as the super-mediums, the light-heavies and even the intermediate-heavies, the AW189, EC175 and Bell 525 Relentless will target what is likely to become a crowded market. While all three have approached it from a different perspective, and each comes with its own unique selling points, the biggest question is, who will steal the crown?
U.K. trials to develop a common architecture for aircraft defensive-aids systems could help to push down the cost of aircraft protection. Drawing lessons from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, commanders have realized they might not be able to rely on or have time to buy such equipment through the urgent operational requirement procurements system in the future. As a result, engineers from the U.K.'s Defense Science Technology Laboratory (DSTL) have been working on a new model for delivering defensive aids to large fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.
