The HCS Air Force held an open day for the media and public at Central AFB on Cloneworld today. As expected the HCSAF had some news for the press pack. Transferring the A-19B fleet to the navy has already begun and the HCSAF expect to save 2.8 million zarks by transferring the aircraft (through not having to operate the type and in a couple of years withdraw it). That money plus some other savings have enabled the F-40S upgrade programme to be increased by 20, now 137 aircraft will be updated. The hope is that further savings and budget can be found to get the eventual F-40S programme up to 200 aircraft. Currently 37 updates have been carried out.
The HCSAF also announced that the latest version of their main WVR AAM, the AA-11 has been upgraded to AA-11G which supports the new helmet sight used in the F-45 and F-40S. It also has an improved IR seeker. The HCSAF are currently undergoing a full review of it's air to air missiles. It operates a variety of types and some are quite old and obsolete.
The first ER-72ACR airborne command relay has been received by the HCSAF Development Squadron for operational testing. This new variant of the ubiquitous Mustang acts as a flying communications network for the HCS if other links are degraded.
