FRANCE

After the announcement of French Defence Minister Florence Parlyon on May 27, 2019, about the anticipatory launch of the light joint helicopter in 2021 and the delivery of the first aircraft H160M to the French army in 2026, Airbus will now apparently be displaying “Cheetah” military helicopter mock-up at Paris Air Show 2019.

“Cheetah – Versatile, modern, incredibly fast, it will equip the three armies: Earth, air, and marine. First deliveries in 2026. For our strengths and on the ground, let’s keep the advantage,” the Minister tweeted with a picture of the helicopter. The Minister also revealed the full-scale mock-up of the H160M that will be presented on the Ministry of the Armed Forces stand at the next Paris Air Show.

Designed to be a modular helicopter, enabling a single platform to perform missions ranging from commando infiltration to air intercept, fire support, and anti-ship warfare in order to meet the needs of the army, the navy, and the air force through the HIL program, the H160 also promises of simplified maintenance and lower operating costs compared to the earlier generation of helicopters in this category.

TURKEY

A mock-up version of the first national fighter jet of Turkey is also expected to be displayed at the upcoming Paris Air Show as announced by the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) General Manager Temel Kotil announced at the 14th International Defense Fair (IDEF), going by the media reports. Striving to stay no different from the US, Russia, and China technologically, TAI continues its preliminary design works for the production of modern aircraft designed with domestic capabilities and that can replace the F-16 aircraft.