All news – Page 6394
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Parachute deployment cuts short first flight of Helios
NASA and AeroVironment, makers of the huge and unconventional Helios flying wing, are investigating the inadvertent deployment of the flight termination system parachute. It brought to a premature end a successful first flight of Helios at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, California, on 8 September. The 75.3m (247ft)-span ...
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Falcon approval
Dassault Aviation has won US certification for the improved Falcon 900C business jet. The aircraft combines the 7,400km (4,000nm)-range Falcon 900B airframe with the Honeywell Primus 2000 integrated avionics of the longer-range 900EX. Dassault, which has an "18-month order backlog for every Falcon", including 51 Falcon 2000s for Executive Jet's ...
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P&WC begins work on PW127 variant
Pratt & Whitney Canada has begun work on a turboshaft version of its PW127 turboprop, initially to power the Mil Mi-38 helicopter to be developed by Mil, Kazan and Eurocopter. There is no other turboshaft in the PW127T/S' class, says P&WC vice-president, marketing and international business, Joe Torchetti. The ...
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GII operators to get RVSM help
Honeywell and Garrett Aviation Services have teamed to develop a reduced vertical separation minima (RVSM) compliance package for Gulfstream II and IIB operators. They are also evaluating a similar package for ageing Cessna Citation and Learjet business jets. "As RVSM airspace expands [across Europe and the Pacific], we want ...
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Israel cuts back
The Israeli defence ministry has cut the budget earmarked for the purchase of Israeli-made defence systems and instructed the air force to purchase US-built systems. The decrease is a result of a 950 million shekel ($224 million) cut in next year's defence budget. Jacob Toren, president of Elop, says the ...
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Greek F406S deal
Reims Aviation has signed a contract worth Fr90 million ($14.5 million) with the Greek navy for two F406 Surmar maritime surveillance aircraft for the national coast guard. A further aircraft is on option. The Surmars will be equipped with a side-looking airborne radar, infrared line scanner, forward looking infrared and ...
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Philippines eyes New Zealand A-4s
Peter Le Franchi/CANBERRA The New Zealand Ministry of Defence has put its 19 McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawks up for sale, with the Philippines confirmed as one of the nations being targeted as a buyer. Philippine president Joseph Estrada and Philippine air force chief of air staff Gen Wilfredo Florendo are ...
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Poland issues RFI for VIP transports
The Polish Ministry of Defence has issued a request for information (RFI) covering its purchase of up to six VIP transports and set a response deadline of the end of this month. The country is understood to require up to two large, long-range business jets and four smaller transports ...
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Lockheed Martin loses spy satellite order to Boeing
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which controls the USA's network of advanced spy satellites, has picked Boeing over incumbent Lockheed Martin to build the nation's next generation of reconnaissance-imagery spacecraft. The so-called Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) contract, which is estimated to be worth as much as $5 billion, is ...
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Venezuela resurrects trainer competition
Venezuela has re-opened its advanced trainer/light attack aircraft contest and is evaluating new tenders after reversing its selection of the Aermacchi MB339 and Alenia/Embraer AMX-ATA. Last year, the country split its decision between the MB339 and a new tandem-seat AMX-T version offered by Embraer and fitted with Elbit avionics. ...
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Sweden pressed over funding next phase of X-31 programme
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Germany and the USA are pressing Sweden to decide on whether it will fund its share of the planned second phase of the tri-national X-31 experimental aircraft programme. Spain, meanwhile, is interested in joining the project to provide Spanish engine manufacturer ITP with a platform to ...
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Strike spearheads
Strike aircraft are still the teeth of any air campaign, but investment in training, as well as assets, is crucial Stewart Penney/RAF MARHAM & RAF WITTERING During the past decade, fighters have flown into harm's way over Iraq and Yugoslavia almost daily to ram home the international community's determination ...
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Force of the future - Coping with demand
Preparing for the unknown is central to USAF's concept of air power Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Air power has been a reality since the early days of aviation, but only recently has it come to be regarded as the preferred means of waging war. Air power is mobile, lethal ...
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Mission possible
EW aircraft, tankers and AWACS turn the impossible into the achievable Stewart Penney/RAF Brize Norton & RAF Waddington DeeDee Doke/Aviano AB & RAF Mildenhall Missions over Iraqi and Yugoslavia would not be possible without force multipliers such as the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), electronic warfare (EW) assets ...
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Key RAAF decisions imminent on future refuelling needs
Peter La Franchi/RAAF RICHMOND Key decisions on the future shape of the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) tanker requirement are expected this week. Australian capability planners are pushing for an all-jet solution, using private finance initiative (PFI) type funding, a lease or an outright capital purchase. A submission prepared ...
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Light Defender deal signed
Israel Military Industries (IMI) and Lockheed Martin have signed a deal to develop jointly the Light Defender stand-off weapon. The move follows the collapse of talks between Boeing and IMI earlier this year (Flight International, 26 May-1 June). Lockheed Martin has significant offset commitments to Israeli defence companies related ...
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Northrop awaits USAF decision after completing DIRCM tests
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Northrop Grumman has completed a second series of live-fire tests of its AAQ-24(V) directed infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) system, paving the way for a US Air Force decision on production for special-operations Lockheed Martin C-130s. The company has also demonstrated an upgrade to the system, which replaces ...
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'Fighter phonebox' studies expand
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON Lockheed Martin plans to widen its study into using commercial satellites for military telecommunications following the successful demonstration of a call from a supersonic F-16 fighter using the Iridium low-earth orbit constellation. Commercial off-the-shelf communication systems are being viewed as a low-cost alternative to increasingly oversubscribed military ...
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US GAO queries effectiveness of JSOW
The US General Accounting Office (GAO) says the US Air Force and US Navy should buy fewer Raytheon AGM-154 Joint Stand-off Weapons (JSOW) because the missile does not offer significant improvements over other in-service air-launched weapons. A $5 billion plan calls for the purchase of 11,000 soft-target AGM-154As, 4,200 ...
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Germany poised to seal Tiger helmet contract
Stewart Penney/LONDON Marconi Electronic Systems expects this week to complete negotiations with German procurement agency BWB for production investment and series production of the Knighthelm helmet-mounted display system for the Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter. The system is also on offer from Boeing as part of an AH-64 Apache bid in ...