Off the wire
• News Analysis: China needs to continue long, hard slog to revive foreign trade  • 9 Evergrande players join Team China for World Cup tie  • Chinese foreign minister to visit the Philippines  • Japan eyes 30 mln visitors by 2030, plans to increase flights  • Obesity on the rise among Filipinos  • Xi presses reform, innovation  • China Hushen 300 index futures close higher Monday  • China treasury bond futures close lower Monday  • Feature: Nomination for International Children's Peace Prize bolsters Afghan girl's resolve  • Liu Xiang finishes 10K and looks to half marathon  
You are here: 　 Home

Defense firms eye deals at Dubai Airshow 2015

Xinhua, November 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Amid the ongoing war in Yemen and turmoil in other parts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), providers of military aircraft and related hardware and software see a windfall of new orders at the 14th Dubai Airshow.

The biennial Dubai Airshow, which started on Sunday, has over 160 civil and military aircraft on display, of which approximately half are fighter jets, troops transport vehicles, or drones.

Lockheed Martin, a U.S. security and aerospace firm, said it received a 262.8 million dollars contract from the U.S. Air Force for sustainment of Saudi Arabia's F-15 sensor suite.

"By leveraging in-Kingdom capabilities, the Royal Saudi Air Force will have its sensors maintained and upgraded to provide unmatched availability and performance for years to come," said Paul Lemmo, vice president of fire control/SOF CLSS at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

Boeing, the other top defense firm, used the airshow as a platform to promote its P-8A sub-hunter, a torpedo-armed maritime patrol aircraft, of which India received the eighth unit in October.

James Detwiler, Boeing's marketing director for maritime projects, said the U.S. aerospace and defense manufacturer is keen on expanding sales for the P-8A, which costs about 200 million dollars apiece, across the MENA region, but also in Europe.

Italy's Elettronica, on Sunday presented a jamming devise for attack aircraft that it says can "intercept and jam a wide field of complex radar threats."

According to an IHS Janes Global Defense Trade Report released in April and reported by the Guardian newspaper, arms sales to the top five purchasers in MENA -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Egypt and Iraq -- is expected to increase to more than 18 billion dollars in 2015, up 50 percent year on year.

The 14th edition of the biennial Dubai Airshow 2015, with participation of 1,100 exhibitors from over 60 countries, will run through Thursday. Endit