Industry And Military Leaders Will Gather At The RAF Museum In London

With the current operations in Libya directly impacting the direction of the fighter jet market, military and industry professionals are faced with the challenge of defining immediate upgrade plans and future capability developments. Among the issues are the prioritizaion for future fighter modernization programs in light of these recent operations and tightening budgets, and the options of procuring new fighters now, potentially saving on costs in the long run, versus service life extensions.

In order to address these topics, as well as provide insight and assessment of programs such as Typhoon, Gripen, Rafale, Super Hornet, F-22 and F-35, senior global military and industry leaders will gather in London, UK at the International Fighter meeting, taking place from 8th-10th November 2011 at the RAF Museum. "The Fighter Conference has become the premier event at which to exchange views on developments in the jet fighter business - both from an operator's perspective and within industry," comments Rob Wells, Export Future Business Manager of Eurofighter Jagdflugzeuge, who participated in last year's event.

Both operator and industry perspectives are key to the conversations taking place at this event. Air Vice-Marshal Stuart Atha, Air Officer Commanding Number One Group of the Royal Air Force will be providing lessons learned from operations in Libya during his briefing, and Major General Michael R. Boera, Director of Requirements, Headquarters Air Combat Command of the US DoD will share his perspective on balancing air supremacy requirements with the needs of current asymmetric operations.

Representing the industry are representatives from major aircraft manufacturers Eurofighter, Saab and Boeing, plus key industry teams including Raytheon, RUAG and Patria.

In addition, Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, Chief of Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force will be joining the speaker faculty to share insights into the development and service-entry of the Chinese-built JF-17 Thunder, whilst Air Marshal Shah Mohammad Ziaur Rahman, Chief of Air Staff, Bangladesh Air Force will discuss their requirements for new combat aircraft.

FMI: www.defenceiq.com