Day three at the Paris Airshow and defence topped the agenda. On Tuesday the F-35 lit up the skies in the flying display and on Wednesday it was the chance for the Eurofighter Typhoon to roar in.

There are signs of the future in Paris, with Europe’s Future Combat Aircraft System FCAS shown in mock-up form from Airbus and Typhoon.

Air defence

At the show, Belgium’s defence minister Ludivine Dedonder confirmed Belgium will also be joining the programme for the new generation fighter.

Airbus has also been impressive in the skies with its A400M, although delivering around eight aircraft a year the French manufacturer is pushing hard for more export orders.

Diamond Aircraft

Diamond Aircraft unveiled a new variant of its special mission DA62 called Vanguard with an array of new sensor capability for environmental surveillance missions.

The threat of hypersonic missiles is a real one, and the industry is responding. At the show Israel’s Rafael premiered its advanced interceptor, named “Sky Sonic,” as a groundbreaking defensive response to that growing threat.

Sky Sonic interceptor represents a major technological leap in hypersonic missile defence, and effectively neutralises hypersonic missiles, which travel at 10 times the speed of sound.

Eve and Widerøe

In other news from the show, Eve Air Mobility (Eve) has extended its partnership with Widerøe Zero, an innovative initiative by Widerøe focused on sustainable aviation with the mission to revolutionise the industry and create a greener future for air travel.

The partnership, solidified through a Letter of Intent (LOI), marks a significant step forward in both companies’ commitment to addressing the environmental impact of aviation and ushering in a new era of sustainable air travel. The agreement involves up to 50 eVTOLs, a service and operation solutions package, as well as the implementation of Eve’s Urban Air Traffic Management (Urban ATM) software solution.

Avolon also signed an MoU with Airbus to order 20 Airbus A330neo aircraft. The new aircraft are scheduled to be delivered between 2026 and 2028.

Avolon was a launch customer for the A330neo programme in 2014 and has fully placed its current widebody order book. The A330neo has a range of over 13,300km (7,200 nautical miles) and 25% lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions compared to previous generation aircraft.
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