India’s indigenous Rustom-2 MALE UAV completes maiden flight

Honestly, E2C a spy plane? And do the author know that 10 Rafale M (F1) are under refit? That others fly twice there annual allocation. Abysmal journalism…

How long have they been under refit? The report states that despite year on year improvements in availability, the latest availability figures are just 53.6%. The year before that and the year before that, the availability was even lower. So it does not seem to be related to a sudden drop due to some aircraft going into refit.

Despite this ” score ” rather poor, it should be noted an increase in availability compared to 2014. The rate has increased to three fleets, 7% for the Rafale M, + 8% for Hawkeye, a slight 1% for ATL2. Going back to 2012, the fleet of Rafale M has won 13 points. The E-2C Hawkeye has however not yet reached the level of 2012 with 30% availability, like ATL2, which showed a modest 30.8% that year.

Translated from

link

French naval aircraft operational availability revealed in letter to MP

Dismal figures. How come such low availability for the Rafale M?

French Navy’s three-strong fleet of Hawkeye E-2C spy planes increased its 2015 operational availability to 32.3 percent from 24.7 percent in the previous year, and last year’s maintenance bill for the aircraft was €30 million (US $33 million), according to the French Ministry of Defense.
..

The 23 Dassault Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft had the lowest availability, with 26.2 percent compared to 25.9 percent, and cost €117.3 million to maintain. The average age was 26.2 years.

A 39-strong fleet of Dassault Rafale “M” fighters was available for use 53.6 percent, up from 46.6 percent, with a maintenance bill of €158.9 million. The average age was 7.1 years.

The 21 Dassault Super Étendard Modernisé fighter saw its availability climb to 46.5 percent, up from 26.8 percent, with a maintenance cost of €18.8 million.

The Navy this summer withdrew the jet from service, as the plane had an average age of 46.5 years.

..

The highest availability was with the five Dassault Falcon 200 Gardian surveillance jets, with 69 percent compared to 65 percent, at a cost of €25.6 million. The average age for the aircraft was 25.6 years.

Sudanese order for 6 FTC-2000 jets announced

Gripen E/F to feature Targo HMD

MoD clears defence deals worth over Rs 82,000 crore, procurement of 83 Tejas jets

wrong link, Tango III

New engines, new weapons for Russian T-50 stealth fighter