All news – Page 6718
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TrunkLiner programme is scrapped
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE China has scrapped the Boeing MD-90-30 TrunkLiner programme less than a month after the collapse of AE-3IX co-development negotiations with Airbus Industrie Asia, delivering a double blow to the country's once bold aerospace ambitions. Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) has instructed Boeing's Long Beach plant to ...
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US Airways plans fleet overhaul
US Airways is planning to update and expand its Shuttle fleet with Boeing 737-300s, but it claims that this will require its pilots to agree to a modified employment contract The division, which operates a fleet of 12 Boeing 727-200s on services between Boston, New York and Washington DC, ...
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ERJ-135 arrives in USA for flight tests
Embraer has flown its ERJ-135 (foreground) regional jet prototype to Moses Lake, Washington, for a series of test flights, due to end in early August. The aircraft, a shortened ERJ-145 prototype, made its maiden flight on 4 July and has quickly built up hours with a series of tests. ...
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F-16 testbed receives JSF's all-electric flight control system
Graham Warwick/FORT WORTH Lockheed Martin has begun installing an all-electric flight control system in an F-16 testbed under a programme to mature the technology for use in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Ground tests are to start in August, leading to a first flight next January. The Advanced ...
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US Navy inaugurates Flashjet paint stripping system
A new robotic paint stripping system called Flashjet was put into operation by the US Navy at NAS, Kingsville, Texas, on 20 July. The Boeing-developed coatings removal system will be used initially to strip Boeing T-45A Goshawk trainers, although the site could also be used to strip other Navy carrier-based ...
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WorldNav communications unit to become ACARS successor
Honeywell has launched its own communications management unit (CMU), catching up with competitors AlliedSignal and Rockwell Collins and filling a gap in the company's WorldNav product suite. Honeywell expects the CMU, which complies with the latest ARINC 758 standard, to succeed the current airborne communications addressing and reporting system ...
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BFGoodrich Autoclave
BFGoodrich Aerospace has introduced a $1.7 million autoclave at its plant in Prestwick, Scotland. Measuring 3.6m (12ft) in diameter and 12.2m in length, it will be used for the repair of engine nacelles and thrust reversers. The autoclave uses a gas radiant system for high-pressure bonding of composite materials. It ...
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Comsat wins deal to supply data blimp services
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Comsat Laboratories has won a $3.5 million contract to provide communications networking services for Sky Station International's planned fleet of 250 giant helium-filled blimps. The craft will be stationed 70,000ft (21,350m) above the world's major metropolitan regions and developing nations to relay Internet, video and other ...
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GAO says ISS may need debris shield
The International Space Station (ISS) may require a $5 billion debris shield and particle tracking network to protect its operation in orbit, says the US Government's General Accounting Office (GAO) - but funding is not included in current ISS cost estimates. Particles of debris as small as 10mm could puncture ...
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Kelly negotiates 'Express' sale
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Kelly Space & Technology (KST) is in negotiation with an unidentified company which wants to purchase two "Express" low-cost reusable launchers. The Express is a member of a family of delta-winged vehicles which KST is developing using the "Eclipse" technique to save huge launch costs. ...
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SpaceDev shops for UK's SIL
Tim Furniss/LONDON SpaceDev, a Colorado-based company that is putting together a private mission to explore and claim rights to an asteroid - possibly for mining purposes - is to acquire the UK's Space Innovations (SIL). The deal will provide SpaceDev with "additional strategic capabilities" to bring it "another ...
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Shuttle engine plant
NASA has opened a new $6.2 million Space Shuttle Main Engine Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. An extension of the Orbiter Processing Facility, the new unit replaces one that was located in the Vehicle Assembly Building and will be used to help to streamline fleet operations. The ...
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Spacehab buoys up expansion plans with Johnson acquisition
Spacehab, the private company that provides pressurised modules for the Space Shuttle, has almost doubled in size by acquiring a leading company supporting NASA's Shuttle programme. Houston-based Johnson Engineering manages spacewalking training operations at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center, Texas, as well as supporting the ...
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NRO chooses TRW to test communications
The US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has awarded TRW a $78 million contract to test high data rate laser communications between geosynchronous orbit and the ground. The Geosynchronous Lightweight Technology Experiment (GeoLite) spacecraft will include a laser communications experiment and a UHF communications mission. The GeoLite will be used ...
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Missile conversion
Tim Furniss/LONDON A former Minuteman II missile refurbished by Orbital Sciences (OSC) will be launched from California Spaceport at Vandenberg AFB in late 1999, carrying an experimental satellite. The Joint Air Force/Weber Satellite (Jawsat), developed by students from the US Air Force Academy and Utah's State University. California ...
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New Government reviews Philippines' defence
The new Philippine Government of President Joseph Estrada is reviewing its defence modernisation priorities in the face of the country's deteriorating financial situation and recent postponement of the multi-role fighter tender submission. Six competing suppliers had been due to submit tenders for 12 new fighters by 15 July, but ...
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Gulfstream purchase
Gulfstream Aerospace has acquired K-C Aviation for $250 million. The Kimberly-Clark subsidiary's completion and maintenance centres in Texas, Wisconsin and Massachusetts will complement Gulfstream's facilities in Georgia and California. Source: Flight International
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BAe lines up in race to take PZL-Mielec majority stake
Andrzej Jeziorski/WARSAW British Aerospace is in the running to become a majority shareholder of Polish aircraft manufacturer PZL-Mielec, as part of Poland's plans to privatise its defence industry. The UK company's vice-president for Central Europe Julian Scopes confirms that the Polish Government recently wrote to companies asking for expressions of ...
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Helicopter freight
The Latvian Industrial Association and Riga Aviation University have jointly developed a system which stabilises freight slung under helicopters. The team claims to reduce drag enough to allow up to double previous flight speeds and up to a 50% reduction in fuel consumption when carrying underslung cargo. Source: Flight ...
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Extex nozzles
Extex has developed a new turbine nozzle for the Allison 250 turboshaft, with durability improved by a platinum aluminide coating. The platinum provides a ductile transition layer between the aluminide and the Inconel 738 parent material to inhibit crack propagation and "reduce oxidation, sulphidation and erosion", says the company, which ...