All news – Page 7131
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737 AD issued
US Boeing 737 operators are being ordered to retrofit their fleets with four newly developed rudder-system components, following the formal issue by the US Federal Aviation Administration of two airworthiness directives (ADs). The announcement follows a US National Transportation Safety Board report, urging the FAA to make its proposed AD ...
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Imaging PGM
GEC-Marconi has added another variant to its Precision Guided Munition (PGM) family of air-launched stand-off weapons. It has confirmed that it has developed an imaging-infra-red-guided version of its 225kg and 900kg PGMs. GEC continues to decline to identify the launch customer for the PGM, although it is known to be ...
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Skoda air defender
Skoda of the Czech Republic has teamed with Tatra and Oerlikon-Contraves to develop the Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun (SPAAG), using the Tatra 8x8 vehicle chassis and a 35mm Oerlikon-Contraves gun. The development is intended initially to meet a potential Czech requirement. The SPAAGwill have a forward-imaging infra-red and laser rangefinder for ...
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IAR ambitions
Romania's IAR is talking to the United Arab Emiratesover the purchase of a further ten IAR-330 Puma helicopters, a type already operated by the UAE. The firm is also pushing an armed variant of the IAR-330 with a chin-mounted cannon and fuselage-mounted metal-frame weapons pylons for gun and rocket pods. ...
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UAE springs EF2000 surprise
The United Arab Emirates has formally reintroduced the Eurofighter EF2000 into its multi-role/strike aircraft competition, catching the previously two short-listed competitors, Lockheed Martin and Dassault, off guard. The move comes after months of behind-the-scenes political activity and several visits by senior UAE defence officials to British Aerospace's Warton site ...
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Reutech area denial
South Africa's Reutech Defence Industries has developed an air-launched rocket-boosted bomb, the Superstop 145, which provides a stand-off range of some 13km (9nm). It is designed to embed itself in the ground and has a time-delay fuze. The warhead contains thousands of steel balls which provide a lethal radius of ...
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UAE helicopters
The United Arab Emirates will receive the first of six Eurocopter Panther anti-surface warfare helicopters in early 1998. Source: Flight International
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Carnival joins PanAm
The merger between new Pan American World Airways and Carnival Air Lines has gone ahead, reviving the plans which were abandoned in August 1996, when the two airlines failed to agree terms for a deal. Pan Am was reborn in September 1996, when it began offering low-cost long-haul scheduled services, ...
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FAA Accepts DSR
The US Federal Aviation Administration has formally accepted the initial display-system replacement (DSR) developed by Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management. The delivery culminates 23 months of development and testing to assure operational performance of the next-generation air-traffic-control (ATC) system. Lockheed Martin will produce the controller workstations under an $898 million ...
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NASA plans further 'smart-skin' antenna tests
Northrop Grumman and TRW's Avionics Systems division are planning further test flights of a "smart-skin" antenna system which has been flown for the first time on NASA Dryden's McDonnell Douglas F-18 Systems Research Aircraft (SRA) at Edwards AFB, California. Early results from the tests of the antenna, embedded ...
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Argentina orders Su-29s
The Argentine Air force has signed an order for eight Sukhoi Su-29 trainers. The deal, valued at nearly $5 million, represents the first time that the Russian company has sold aircraft to Argentina, although several Sukhoi types are operated by Peru. Sukhoi signed the deal with the Argentinians ...
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Untenable situation
Western national carriers British Airways, KLM of the Netherlands and Germany's Lufthansa have recently begun direct flights to Azerbaijan capital Baku, in anticipation of an oil boom which is expected to increase passenger and cargo traffic to the region. Bina International Airport in Baku, however, is dogged by ...
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Invincible ideas?
The last attempt by the UK's Royal Navy to launch a new class of purpose-built aircraft carriers floundered amid an inter-service battle in the late 1960s. The senior service is trying again and, with the help of industry, is attempting to persuade a cost-conscious Ministry of Defence (MoD) that a ...
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Civil warfare
Italy's airline industry is at a crossroads. Long dominated by flag carrier Alitalia, the country's air-transport industry is still coming to terms with the 1995 liberalisation of the domestic market. Despite the dramatic events of the last year or so, most agree that there is still plenty of room for ...
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Taiwanese/Czechs link on AE-270
Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development (AIDC) and Aero Vodochody of the Czech Republic have signed a $60 million joint-venture agreement to co-produce a ten-seat turboprop aircraft, the AE-270. Each will take a 50% stake. AIDC president Wang Shih-sen and Aero Vodochody chief executive Adam Stranak signed the agreement on ...
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Boeing increases production as business-jet sales exceed plans
BOEING is stepping up planned production of its 737-based business jet, from six a year to two a month, based on customer response to the aircraft since it was launched in July 1996. "We plan to deliver over 40 aircraft in the first couple of years," says Larry Clarkson, president ...
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Cessna Aircraft cuts back 1997 production targets for singles
Cessna Aircraft has almost halved its 1997 single-engined-aircraft production plans - but the company remains optimistic that sales in 1998 and beyond will reach their targets. Instead of delivering about 1,000 aircraft this year (made up by $150 million-worth of new 172R Skyhawks and 182S Skylanes), the Wichita-based ...
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Cirrus nears test SR20 completion
Cirrus Design has nearly completed construction of its C-1, the test aircraft which will be used to win US Federal Aviation Administration certification of the new SR20 four-seat piston single. The C-1's first flight is expected in mid-year, says the company, reflecting a six-month delay from earlier plans ...
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Dassault studies business-jet production boost
Improving sales of Dassault Aviation business jets may force the manufacturer to increase production rates, says its director general, civil aircraft, Jean-François Georges. Dassault's Merignac plant, near Bordeaux, is producing five aircraft a month, around one-third of which are the new Falcon 2000, says Georges. "The market is ...
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Europe's business-aviation fleet increases by 10%
THE EUROPEAN business-aviation fleet grew by 10% during 1996, with 2,051 aircraft registered, against 1,857 logged in the previous year. The increase came mainly in France (115 more aircraft), the UK (32), Sweden (nine) and Turkey (16), according to the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), which held its ...