All news – Page 6379
-
News
Russia lags behind in Y2K readiness
Russia has not yet reported its year 2000 (Y2K) readiness status to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), industry sources have revealed. ICAO says that 156 of its 185 contracting states have filed Y2K status reports, but will not confirm that Russia has not reported. Among 28 other states ...
-
News
Higher thrust 777 Trent tested
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELESBoeing is starting certification flight testing of the higher thrust Rolls-Royce Trent 895 turbofan on the 777-200ER, and is preparing to start tests of the General Electric GE90-94B by the middle of next year. Tests of the R-R engine, rated at 93,400lb (415kN) thrust, have focused on the ...
-
News
Cash snags mar DoD satellite plans
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The ambitions of the US Department of Defense (DoD) to renew its communications satellite constellations could be scuppered by funding challenges facing all its programmes. The first issue facing the DoD is whether it can afford to replace the Milstar II satellite which was launched ...
-
News
United Space accepts shuttle delay costs
The Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Space Alliance, which operates the Space Shuttle fleet for NASA, is to pay "several million dollars" in penalties for delays to the flight schedule caused by wiring defects in the orbiters (Flight International, 29 September-5 October). The cost of the repairs to the Endeavour ...
-
News
Brazilian site
Brazil is to invest $26.3 million expanding its Alcantara launch site to enable it to fly medium and large boosters for international commercial customers using the equatorial location. Brazil has yet to launch its second VLS small satellite launcher from Alcantara after the first failed. The Chinese-Brazilian CBERS 1 Earth ...
-
News
Worldwide launch flurry puts nine satellites into orbit
Tim Furniss/LONDON Six launches over seven days have resulted in the orbiting of nine satellites: four Globalstars, the Echostar V, Telstar 7, Ikonos 2, LM-1 and the Resurs F1M. The burst of activity started with a Starsem Soyuz launch from Baikonur on 22 September, which placed four Loral-built ...
-
News
Orbimage and Ikonos moves warm up remote sensing fight
Competition in the commercial remote sensing satellite market will increase sharply because of the launch of the Ikonos satellite and moves by rival Orbimage to boost its market access. Orbimage and Radarsat International of Canada have signed an agreement which appoints Orbimage principal distributor of Radarsat 1 images in ...
-
News
Space station may be turned over to commercial operator
NASA will consider turning the International Space Station (ISS) over to a commercial operator within five to 10 years to fund other exploration priorities, according to the space agency's administrator, Daniel Goldin. The proposal takes Nasa beyond its previously suggested plan to allow commercial companies to take up to a ...
-
News
Cirrus looks at speeding up SR20's parachute
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Cirrus Design is studying expanding the speed at which the SR20 light aircraft's emergency parachute can be deployed, following its certification with the current production system. The Ballistic Recovery System (BRS) parachute is designed to be deployed from the SR20 in the event of an engine ...
-
News
F-22 testing focuses on weapon bay
The focus of flight tests of the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor have been switched to acoustic and load tests of the weapon bays. This follows the initial expansion of the flight envelope to speeds above 560kt (1,040km/h) and altitudes "higher than 50,000ft [15,250m]" says Lockheed Martin F-22 chief test pilot ...
-
News
Standard test
Raytheon tested its Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) on 24 September. The launch from the USS Shiloh was the first of a series of "at-sea firings" set for the next two years. The test demonstrated performance during launch, booster separation, second-stage guidance and control through second-stage separation. The SM-3 will be ...
-
News
Australia extends airborne EW contest
Peter La Franchi/CANBERRA An Australian Defence Force plan to develop a common family of electronic warfare (EW) self-protection systems for fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft has taken a surprise turn, with four shortlisted consortia to perform funded design studies. The Australian Department of Defence says that study contracts worth an ...
-
News
Westland proposes new Lynx bodies
GKN Westland is proposing to the UK Ministry of Defence a refuselage programme for about 100 British Army Lynx helicopters. The move is part of a wider programme to adapt the battlefield helicopter as a reconnaissance/observation machine to support army WAH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters when they enter service. Other ...
-
News
Czech Republic gets answers to fighter RFI
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH The Czech Government is evaluating the responses to its request for information (RFI) on Western fighter aircraft ahead of the expected release of a formal request for proposals (RFP) next year. The country, which joined NATO earlier this year, requires up to 36 aircraft to replace its ...
-
News
Australia watches East Timor with JORN
Peter La Franchi/MELBOURNEThe Australian Department of Defence (DoD) has demonstrated the ability of the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) to monitor aircraft movements over East Timor, with surveillance of the INTERFET air bridge undertaken as part of initial capability verification trials. The Australian DoD reveals that the JORN BackScatter Sounder, ...
-
News
Slovakia to open range to USAF
The Slovak Republic is to open a training range and airfield to the US Air Force, becoming the first former Warsaw Pact country to allow their routine use by Western air forces. The ranges could be in USAF use by April. A Slovak-US agreement, two years in development, gives ...
-
News
Sony Trans Com sell-off near
Emma Kelly/SALT LAKE CITYAn unidentified avionics manufacturer, widely believed to be AlliedSignal, is conducting a due diligence review of Sony Trans Com with a view to buying the in-flight entertainment (IFE) supplier from Sony. Sony Trans Com declines to confirm the identity of the suitor, saying only that the company ...
-
News
System 3000 launch
Matsushita is close to finalising a 40-aircraft launch order for its new System 3000 interactive in-flight entertainment (IFE) system. The System 3000, to be available from the second or third quarter of next year, will be an upgraded version of the System 2000E, the leading interactive IFE system installed on ...
-
News
Rockwell to join audio/video/on-demand club from next year
Rockwell Collins Passenger Systems will test audio/video/on-demand (A/VOD) capability on its Total Entertainment System (TES) with an unidentified airline in the first quarter of next year. Rockwell is the last of the major in-flight entertainment (IFE) hardware suppliers to offer A/VOD functionality, which provides passengers with control over their ...
-
News
SkyTeam forced to shelve Spanish transport plan
German passenger and freight carrier SkyTeam has been forced at the last minute to shelve plans to acquire a CASA CN235 turboprop transport because the aircraft the Spanish manufacturer planned to supply does not comply with European Joint Airworthiness Requirements. The airline has instead concluded a deal with BAC ...