US manufacturers Boeing and Lockheed Martin announced foreign deliveries of several C-130Js to Qatar, a C-17 to the United Arab Emirates, and the first Peace Eye 737 airborne early warning and control aircraft to South Korea. The Qatari air force took delivery of a fleet of four stretched C-130Js in a roll-out ceremony Wednesday, becoming the type’s first Middle Eastern operator, announced Lockheed. Boeing delivered the first of four Peace Eye platforms to Gimhae AB, South Korea, on Sept. 21. Korean Aerospace will modify the remaining three Peace Eye aircraft in South Korea for delivery in 2012, according to a Boeing release. In addition to the delivery of UAE’s fourth C-17 from the company’s facility in Long Beach, Calif., on Monday, Boeing announced that Australia wants to purchase a sixth C-17 for its air force. The UAE will receive its two remaining C-17s on order in 2012.
The Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile is behind schedule and may significantly overrun its expected cost, which could partially explain why the service is reviving the hypersonic AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid-Response Weapon.