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.
The U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) has used its first deployment of Eurofighter Typhoons to a Red Flag exercise to start conceptualizing how it might use the fighter in conjunction with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.
Eurocopter has delivered its greatest hints yet about the thinking behind its future product lineup. The EADS-owned helicopter manufacturer walked away with 69 orders at Heli-Expo here this month and also launched a new version of its EC135 light twin, but the company is keeping the industry waiting to see what results from its X4 program to replace the AS365 Dauphin.
The emergence and strong sales of Frank Robinson's R66 Turbine is causing helicopter manufacturers to think again about the light single-turbine market. For years, Robinson Helicopter Co.'s piston R22 and R44 were considered to be in a league of their own, but the development and certification of the R66—of which nearly 200 were delivered in 2012—has raised eyebrows, as it begins to impinge on markets that were previously strongholds of models produced by Bell Helicopters, MD Helicopters, Enstrom Helicopter Corp. and to some extent Eurocopter.
