All news – Page 6527
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Japanese fine tune military transport requirement
Andrzej Jeziorski/TOKYO The Japan Defence Agency (JDA) has begun to crystallise its requirement for a replacement military transport, according to JDA officials speaking at the Tokyo Aerospace 2000 show - held from 22-26 March at the Tokyo International Exhibition Centre. The C-X replacement for the air force's ageing ...
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Ariane 5 makes first dual-satellite launch
Ariane 505 flight V128 was launched from Kourou on 21 March, carrying the Asiastar and Insat 3B. It was the first commercial dual-satellite deployment mission by the heavylift booster and its second commercial flight. Ariane 505 carried a 4,835kg (10,650lb) payload to a 560 x 35,785km (350 x 22,225 ...
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NASA replaces Shuttle main engine
NASA is to replace a Space Shuttle main engine on the orbiter Atlantis, being prepared for its STS101 mission to the fledgling International Space Station in mid-April. After finding a defective part inside a metal seal on an engines being prepared for Discovery's mission to the Hubble Space Telescope last ...
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Lockheed Martin loses out on heavylift EELV contract
Lockheed Martin is expected to cancel development of the heavylift version of its Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), as a result of discussions with the USAir Force. Boeing will go ahead with development of a heavy version of its Delta IV EELV. Boeing and Lockheed Martin were ...
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OrbView expands
Orbital Sciences' affiliate Orbital Imaging (Orbimage) has become the North American distributor of 1m (3ft)-resolution stereo imagery of major cities in the USA and Canadian produced by French cartography company ISTAR. The deal expands the Orbimage OrbView Cities imagery catalogue. Source: Flight International
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Soyuz go-ahead to Mir
The Soyuz TM mission, to be launched to the Mir space station from Baikonur on 4 April, has been extended from 45 days to between 70 and 90 days. The mission, which will be the first to Mir since last August, will be crewed by Sergie Zaletin and Alexander Kaleri. ...
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Russian companies in failure spat
Russian space companies Yuzhnoye and Energia each denied liability for the failure of the Sea Launch on 13 March, which left the first ICO Global Communications satellite in the Pacific (Flight International, 21-27 March). The Sea Launch's flight computer shut down the second stage engine when it sensed the ...
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General Dynamics wins Seismic deal
General Dynamics has been named prime contractor for SeismicStar, a programme to transmit data directly from seismic-exploration vessels via NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) network. SeismicStar is being developed by SpaceData International, which has an agreement with NASA to provide commercial access to the network. The ...
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DoD delays fourth National Missile Defense flight test
The US Department of Defense (DoD) has delayed a critical flight test of the National Missile Defense (NMD) system by two months, after a probe of the failed third test on 18 January. The fourth test, planned for 27 April, has been delayed to 26 June. The DoD says ...
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T-3 replacement battle re-opens
Andrzej Jeziorski/TOKYO Swiss turboprop manufacturer Pilatus is preparing to re-offer its PC-7MkII trainer for the Japan Air Self-Defence Force's re-opened primary trainer contest. The competition was re-opened recently after a September 1998 decision in favour of the Fuji Heavy Industries T-7 trainer was scrapped because of a corruption scandal ...
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USAF invites T-38C Talon upgrade bids
The US Air Force is drawing up a draft request for proposals for a $700 million upgrade of the Northrop T-38C's propulsion system and structure. This is in addition to ongoing avionics modernisation work designed to extend the trainer's life to 2040. Following the recent approval of an acquisition ...
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Apache arrival
The British Army Air Corps sees the WAH-64 as part of a light, flexible force Stewart Penney/LONDON On 15 March, the UK Army Air Corps (AAC) took delivery of the first of 67 GKN Westland WAH-64 Apaches, heralding a change within the British Army that those responsible for service ...
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Mobile manoeuvres
Changes in the nature of the world's armed forces has increased the demand for attack helicopters Stewart Penney/LONDON Collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War led to a major change in the structure of NATO as its members moved away from heavily armed forces based ...
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Tactical Helicopter Group and the command structure
When operational, 301 and 302 Squadrons at Gilze-Rijen - near Eindhoven - will form the armed element of the RNLAF Tactical Helicopter Group, which, in turn, forms the aviation element of the Netherlands' 11 Air Manoeuvre Brigade (AMB) operating alongside the Royal Netherlands Army's 11 Air Mobile Brigade, based at ...
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Flexible muscle
The Netherlands is the first international customer for the AH-64D Apache Stewart Penney/GILZE-RIJEN AB When the Netherlands ordered Boeing AH-64D Apaches in 1995, it became the first international customer for the updated version of the US Army's attack helicopter. The AH-64D has new digital avionics, an improved cockpit ...
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Raytheon puts BBJ work back on track
Raytheon's Waco, Texas-based completions arm expects its Boeing Business Jets (BBJ) modifications and interiors venture to be back on schedule by the end of the year. Unforeseen "challenges" have put the company seriously behind, according to Steve Hannah, Raytheon's director for widebody aircraft programmes. The company blames the set-back ...
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Chemical threat
TRW has added a chemical threat detection system to the US Army's Israel Aircraft Industries Hunter unmanned air vehicle. The Safeguard payload combines an infrared line scanner and a fast scanning, thermally stabilised Fourier transform infrared spectrometer to analyse suspected chemical clouds without flying through the possible contaminant. Source: Flight ...
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Delivery landmark
Pratt & Whitney Canada has delivered the 500th PW305 turbofan to Bombardier to power the Learjet 60 mid-sized business jet. Source: Flight International
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New EMS HQ
The UK's Kent Air Ambulance Trust is to transfer from its temporary headquarters at Rochester Airport to a purpose-built site at nearby Marsden, less than 10 years after the service began. According to the Trust, the new site is the UK's first fully integrated helicopter emergency medical services (EMS) air ...
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Dump compensation
Boeing has offered to reimburse NASA for the loss of two spare oxygen and nitrogen tanks, valued at $750,000, built for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The 1.5 x 1.5m tanks (5 x 5ft) were left outside an ISS component assembly building in wooden crates and were accidentally ...