All news – Page 7048
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Sun Air privatisation goes into the final furlong
South Africa has announced a shortlist of four bidding groups to go forward to the next phase in the privatisation of domestic airline Sun Air. Malaysian Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and rival regional Comair are listed. Each of the three airlines, together with a fourth bid led by Phoenix ...
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Germany and UK deny French Airbus claims
French assertions that the four partners of the Airbus Industrie consortium have reached agreement on the future shape of the company have been denied strongly in Germany and the UK. Aerospatiale president Yves Michot claims that the four company presidents, meeting on 26/27 May, had agreed on "a ...
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France aims for closer military-engine co-operation with UK
The French armaments directorate DGA is mounting an initiative designed to push co-operation between France and the UK on research into advanced military engines. A senior DGA source says that there is a "possibility" of an announcement as early as this week's Paris air show on a joint-venture ...
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US Air Force embraces EGPWS
THE US AIR FORCE will begin buying enhanced ground-proximity warning systems (EGPWS) even before the US Federal Aviation Administration requires its installation on transport-category aircraft. The USAF joins a handful of US airlines which have voluntarily elected to install copies of the upgraded safety device on their aircraft ...
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Boeing battles to cut F-22 costs
Boeing is attempting to slash costs on the Lockheed Martin/ Boeing F-22 fighter by up to $12 billion over the life of the programme, partly through a series of production initiatives. The move follows the review of the Joint Estimate Team (JET) US Department of Defense price watchdog, ...
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Boeing speeds hypersonic weapon push
Boeing North American has completed initial wind-tunnel work on a scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet)- powered waverider lifting body. Now the company is pressing the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to support the effort as part of the development of future hypersonic weapons. The call ...
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Indonesia examines alternatives to F-16s
Indonesia has begun to focus attention on a range of alternative Russian and European-built fighter aircraft, following the Government's decision to cancel its planned purchase of nine Lockheed Martin F-16A/Bs from the USA (Flight International, 2-8 April). An Indonesian military delegation is understood to have already visited Russia ...
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Development of new JSF gun is planned
DEVELOPMENT OF AN advanced gun has been proposed for the US/UK Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) because of concerns over the weight, cost and effectiveness of the current M61 20mm cannon. The four services planning to buy the JSF have yet to agree whether it should have an internal gun. ...
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Czechs guarantee cash for production of Aero L-159s
The Czech government has finally guaranteed funding for the production of 72 Aero Vodochody L-159 Advanced Light Combat Aircraft for its air force. The move was revealed by Czech defence minister Miloslav Vyborny at the roll-out on 12 June of the first prototype at Aero's production plant, near ...
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Belgian Airbus hunt
The Belgian air force wants to replace the ageing Boeing 727-100QCs of its 21 squadron with two Airbus Industrie A310s. Belgium's defence minister Jean-Pol Poncelet has asked the country's national airline Sabena to buy two of the airliners for use in the troop transport role. "The Boeings have reached the ...
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More UC-35As
The US Army has awarded Cessna Aircraft a further $52 million to build five additional UC-35A (military Citation V Ultra) transports. The US Department of Defense is buying 35 of the medium-range aircraft over five years, plus contractor logistic support and pilot training worth an estimated $157 million. ...
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Pentagon extends Outrider probation
Flight testing of the Alliant Techsystems Outrider tactical unmanned air vehicle (UAV) is being put on the fast track as the company has been given additional time by the US Deparmtment of Defense to prove the drone's capabilities. The Outrider was six months late in being flown, and ...
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China reveals F-7 armed with Python 3
China has released for the first time pictures of the Rafael Python 3 short-range air-to-air missile being carried by a Chinese air force Chengdu F-7. Python-3 AAMs, known as PL-8s within the Chinese armed forces, were bought from Israel in the late 1980s. China has shown a short-range surface-to-air missile ...
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Russian air force/air defence units face merger proposal
The merger of Russia's air-defence forces with the air force is high on the agenda of a restructuring plan to be submitted to President Boris Yeltsin in July. The plan has been drawn up by the recently established commission on military reform, led by Russian prime minister Victor ...
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Taiwan hopes to see more Mirages
Taiwanese officials are hoping that the newly elected French socialist Government will approve the possible sale of a follow-on batch of 60 Dassault Mirage 2000-5 fighters. According to Taiwan's China Times newspaper, Taiwanese minister without portfolio Tsai Cheng-wen says that Paris is considering a planned new deal to ...
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Meeting the FANS
WORLDWIDE implementation of the future air-navigation system (FANS) is still years away, but civil-aircraft manufacturers and operators are already adopting satellite-based avionics, for several near-term reasons. These include the availability of fuel-saving routes for suitably equipped aircraft, the pending decommissioning of the Omega navigation system, and the approaching ...
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Super survivor
Ghost Connie, you're cleared for flypast," calls the tower as Captain Charles "Chuck" Grant drops the nose of the Lockheed C-121C and asks flight engineer Jerry Steele for more power. The four turbo-compound Wright R-3350-93s howl louder and the Super Constellation thunders along the crowd line at El ...
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India's jet challenger
Even its most ardent supporters would have to concede that India's airline deregulation has been less than successful. Of the wave of airlines which emerged in the early 1990s to challenge the Indian Airlines domestic monopoly, only a handful are still flying. Their cause has not been helped by a ...
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Fast exit
It is almost 51 years since, on 24 July, 1946, the first live test-ejection took place using a Martin-Baker ejection seat, and 49 years since Jo Lancaster made the first emergency Martin-Baker ejection from the prototype Armstrong Whitworth AW.52 flying wing. Those ejections used pre-production versions of Martin-Baker's ...
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Redesigned part puts MDHS Explorer back on the trail
McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems (MDHS) Explorer helicopters, grounded on 29 May after discovery of a broken drive-link, have been cleared to resume flying after the US Federal Aviation Administration approved a redesigned part. MDHS originally discovered the problem on 8 May when a US operator found a broken ...