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Quickstep fighter to strike Avalon - now just weeks away

 

Australian Joint Strike Fighter supplier Quickstep Holdings Ltd (ASX code QHL) will be expecting its biggest ever lift in profile at the forthcoming Avalon Air Show near Geelong.

The show is open to the public from 3rd to 5th March. Professionals are admitted from 28th Feb to 5 March 2017. https://www.airshow.com.au/airshow2017/index.asp

The Joint Strike Fighter will surely be the star of the show, being its first ever visit to Australia, after it reported big wins in highly scrutinised combat games held in the USA.  This is the first ever victory by the JSF in such games, and a stark reversal from previous outcomes.

Australian enthusiasts will see the F35 flying for the first time on Friday 3rd March when two of the aircraft fly into the Avalon Airshow direct from the USA.

This is due to occur just a few days after QUICKSTEP reports its 1H FY17 interim results.  While we forecast a very modest operating loss of -A$0.4m for the Dec. 2016 half, we see this as a substantial improvement on the –A$5.6m operating loss incurred in the prior six month period.  Furthermore this is a strong indication that QHL is headed rapidly towards a positive operating cash flow in the current 6 months ended 30 June 2017

Also, further contractual success is reckoned to be not far away, following extensive and long-running negotiations regarding both aerospace and auto parts.  Hyundai,  Tesla, and an unknown Chinese motor company are but of few of the numerous auto “suspects” whom we believe are in discussions with QHL.

Our Target Price for Quickstep currently stands at 20cps.
 
Quickstep will enjoy high exposure at the Air Show through both the JSF and Deakin University.

F-35 Scores Impressive 15:1 Kill Ratio at Red Flag War Games
Feb 7, 2017, Aviation Week 
 
Pilots credit the Lighting II with making older legacy fighters more lethal.



Exercise Red Flag at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada is considered one of the most realistic and challenging aviation warfare exercises, and pilots from this year's event say the Air Force's F-35A exceeded expectations by dominating the air space and improving the lethality of other legacy aircraft. Its stellar performance is a major victory for a war plane that's been criticized for its high costs and plagued with several development setbacks. Running from January 23 to February 10, this year's Red Flag involves more threats to pilots than ever before, including surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), radar jamming equipment, and an increased number of red air, or mock enemy aircraft. Against the ramped-up threats, the F-35A only lost one aircraft for every 15 aggressors killed, according to Aviation Week.

 

The F-35 Lightning II's advanced avionics software was the star of the show, as multiple F-35s successfully compiled data into a detailed layout of the battlefield with each individual threat pinpointed. The stealthy aircraft could then slip into weak spots in the defensive layout and take out SAM targets, opening up the space for follow-on forces of legacy fighters. Even when the F-35s ran out of munitions, F-22 and fourth-generation fighter pilots wanted the aircraft to remain in the combat zone, soaking up data and porting target info to the older fighters. "Before where we would have one advanced threat and we would put everything we had—F-16s, F-15s, F-18s, missiles—we would shoot everything we had at that one threat just to take it out," Lt. Col. George Watkins, 34th Fighter Squadron commander, told Aviation Week. "Now we are seeing three or four of those threats at a time."

 

The F-35 and the F-22 Raptor pair up to make a particularly deadly team, according to the pilots. The Raptor uses its advanced air maneuverability to shield the F-35 from airborne threats while the F-35 relays data to the F-22 to paint a clear picture of the battlefield. Once the duo of fifth-generation fighters take out an initial wave of ground and air targets, F-18s, F-16s, and F-15s bring up the rear to provide support, all receiving target data from the F-35s in the field. "When you pair the F-22 and the F-35 together with the fourth-generation strikers behind us, we're really able to dominate the air space over the Nellis test and training range," Watkins told Aviation Week.

 

Particularly encouraging was the smooth operation of the F-35's 3i software, a system that has crashed in the past, forcing pilots to reboot in midair, and the program has struggled with duplicate and repeating target info. None of the F-35s at Red Flag had any troubles running the advanced avionics software. The F-35A is currently in Initial Operational Capability (IOC) and is slated to reach Full Operational Capability (FOC) with Block 3F sometime next year.




 
27/02/2017 12:18:00 PM

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