All news – Page 7191
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Mercury could be target for fifth Discovery
NASA will make a final decision in April whether to launch the Hermes Global Orbiter spacecraft to map the planet Mercury as the fifth mission in the Discovery series. The Hermes has been proposed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California and spacecraft-builder Spectrum Astro in Arizona. The ...
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EELV engine passes key test
Full-scale propellant injector and thrust-chamber tests of the first-stage engine of the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) candidate vehicle have been completed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, marking a major milestone in the programme. The 2,850kN (640,500lb)-thrust RS-68 liquid-oxygen/liquid-hydrogen (LOX/LH) cryogenic main engine ...
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Russia details 1997 launch programme
Funding permitting, Russia plans to launch 28 boosters in 1997, carrying a variety of satellites into orbit. These will include three manned Soyuz TM and four unmanned Progress M tankers to the Mir 1 space station. At least three commercial Proton launches are scheduled, starting with the flight ...
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Battle for survival
When the Belgian Air force deployed Lockheed Martin F-16A Fighting Falcons to Vicenza airbase in Italy as part of the "post-IFOR" NATO presence over Bosnia, it demonstrated a change in Belgian Government policy, which, until then, had seen only ground troops committed to the peacekeeping campaign. It has taken the ...
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Israel demonstrates anti-tank missile to Poles
Israel has demonstrated helicopter launches of the Rafael NT-D anti-tank missile for a team of Polish defence and industry observers. The missile was selected in 1996 to arm the Polish PZL-Swidnik Huzar attack helicopter, but the selection was called into question when Rafael failed to meet a November ...
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Philippine air force considers twin-engined fighter solution
The Philippine air force is leaning towards a twin-engine solution to its fighter requirement, following flight evaluations of a McDonnell Douglas (MDC) F-18C/D and Mikoyan MiG-29. According to local sources, the Philippines' new armed forces chief-of-staff and former air force commander, General Arnulfo Acedera, has come out in ...
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US Army keeps tabs on Starstreak
The US Army has released funding to continue evaluation of the Shorts Missile Systems Starstreak as a self-protection weapon for the McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems (MDHS) AH-64 Apache gunship. In late December, Shorts was awarded a $2 million increment as part of a $13 million contract to continue ...
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Joint endeavours
Col Ben Robinson, commander of the USAir Force's 93rd Air Expeditionary Group (Provisional) says: "We shoot no missiles; we carry no cargo; our only product is information; and information dominance is the key to success." The system which brings so much to the modern battlefield without firing a shot is ...
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Icy irony
NASA's Lunar Prospector spacecraft, to be launched in October, has been given a "real" mission, thanks to the military. The plan for the Prospector to be used to map the chemical composition of the Moon has been made all the more tantalising by the apparent discovery of an "ice lake" ...
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Fighting the accountant
CRITICS OF THE McDonnell Douglas (MDC) F-18E/F argue that the aircraft does not represent enough of an advance over the current F-18C/D to justify the $63 billion programme cost. The US Navy , however, believes that the E/F structural upgrade restarts the growth cycle and prepares the aircraft to replace ...
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Bond begins Shannon SAR contract
Bond Helicopters has taken over the Shannon, Ireland-based search and rescue (SAR) contract operated on behalf of the Irish Marine Emergency Service. The company is operating a Sikorsky S.61N, which replaces a similar aircraft flown on the SAR contract for the last five years by Irish Helicopters. A second S.61N ...
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Germany to certificate Cessna 150 upgrade
The German aviation authority LBA is to certificate a Rotax-powered Cessna 150 upgrade with a Hoffmann constant-speed propeller by June, says the propeller manufacturer. The upgrade is to be offered by German engineer Guido Sperl at a target price of DM50,000 ($32,000). Hoffmann says that the new engine ...
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FAA orders FJ44 turbine solution
The US Federal Aviation Administration is requiring immediate inspection and replacement of high-pressure turbine disks used in Williams Rolls-Royce FJ44 turbofans which have twice failed on Cessna CitationJets. The airworthiness directive (AD) affects the early-model FJ44-1A turbofan engines which power some CitationJets. The Directive orders immediate and recurring ...
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FAA softens order on Lycoming crankshaft
A PROPOSED airworthiness directive(AD) requiring repetitive inspection, and possible replacement, of crankshafts in certain Textron Lycoming engines has been modified to reduce its potentially serious impact on operators. The AD was prompted by failures of hollow-end crankshafts caused by corrosion-induced cracking. The original notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) ...
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China's first local helicopter makes its maiden flight
China's first locally designed and produced helicopter, the Jingdezhen Z-11, had its maiden flight at the end of December. The six- to seven-seat machine has been developed as a general-purpose helicopter for use by civil and military operators. Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) plans call for local airworthiness ...
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1996 spawns worst-ever accident totals
Three grim airline accident records were set in 1996. Commercial passenger and cargo airlines worldwide suffered more fatal accidents, more onboard fatalities and, by a massive margin, more crash-caused deaths on the ground than ever before. This has established an already-emerging upward trend for the 1990s in the numbers of ...
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Thai austerity regime hits civil/military projects
Thailand has announced a range of financial austerity measures, throwing into doubt the national airline's five-year fleet re-equipment plan and putting major new defence acquisitions on ice. The package of economic measures announced by the recently elected coalition Government is aimed at cutting Thailand's ballooning current-account deficit. The ...
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BA wins approval for Air Liberte rescue
British Airways and the Rivaud group have won court approval for their take-over of Air Liberté, the French regional carrier forced to seek a rescuer after running out of cash in September. BA and Rivaud emerged as the winning bidders early in November, but had to wait until ...
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Airbus issues hydraulic pump warning after A330/340 fires
Airbus Industrie has instructed all A330 and A340 operators to de-activate the aircraft's electrically driven hydraulic pumps, following a series of fires which has left at least two aircraft badly damaged. In the latest incident, an auxiliary pump is suspected of having overheated on a Malaysia Airlines (MAS)A330-300 ...
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Airbus closes in on AE-100 development agreement
Airbus Industrie is expected to announce shortly its team to head Europe's participation in the joint development of the proposed Air Express AE-100 regional passenger aircraft in partnership with China and Singapore. The new Airbus team will assume responsibility for the programme from Aero International (Regional) (AI(R)), which ...