All news – Page 7305
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Australia prepares to privatise forces initial pilot training
AUSTRALIA PLANS to centralise and privatise initial flight training for its air force, army and navy. An Australian Defence Force study has recommended outsourcing basic fixed-wing training, with an integrated syllabus for the three services. An invitation for companies to register interest will be released in July, with ...
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USA to evaluate BROACH multi-warhead system
THE PENTAGON has awarded foreign comparative test (FCT) contracts to evaluate the UK-developed BROACH multi-warhead system on the Texas Instruments Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW) and Boeing Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM). The BROACH, combining an initial penetrating charge with a secondary follow-through bomb, is the tandem-charged warhead for ...
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NZ P-3 wing shipsets
Daewoo Heavy Industries has delivered the first of six new main-wing shipsets for New Zealand's Lockheed Martin P-3K maritime patrol aircraft. The Royal New Zealand Air Force is rewinging its six P-3Ks as part of Project Kestrel to extend the aircraft's life until 2015. Daewoo's $9.2 million contract calls for ...
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Lockheed Martin first to finish JSF design review
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC LOCKHEEDMARTIN has completed the initial design review (IDR) for its Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) concept-demonstrator programme, clearing the way to begin detailed design. Boeing says that the IDR for its JSF programme is due later this year. Flight testing of the competing concept demonstrators is ...
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Aero Vodochody's first L-159 test aircraft rolls out to order
Aero Vodochody took the wraps off its L-159 Advanced Light Combat Aircraft, with the roll-out of the first prototype, a two-seat version of the new aircraft, but without the full avionics and radar package. Defence minister Miloslav Vyborny used the event, held at Aero's plant near Prague on 12 June, ...
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South African Air Force drop tests new stand-off weapon
he South African Air Force (SAAF) is continuing development trials of its multi-purpose stand-off weapon (MUPSOW). A series of powered flight-drop tests was carried out at the end of 1996, examining the propulsion performance and flight characteristics of the stand-off missile. The SAAF is looking at submunition dispenser and unitary-warhead ...
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Pakistan again threatens to sue over blocked F-16s
Pakistan has made fresh warnings that it may resort to legal action against the US Government in an effort to recover its investment in 28 Lockheed Martin F-16A/B fighters, the delivery of which has been blocked by Washington. The threat from Islamabad to sue follows Indonesia's decision to ...
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US budget cut veto puts spring back in Super Hornet's step
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Government's House National Security Committee (HNSC) has rejected proposed cuts to the 1998 procurement budget and, in doing so, has given a boost to the US Navy's plans to purchase McDonnell Douglas F-18E/F Super Hornet tactical aircraft. By approving a $268 ...
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Eurofighter partner countries step up pressure on Germany
Three of the four Eurofighter partner nations (Italy, Spain and the UK) will be ready to sign-off the production phase of the Eurofighter EF2000 combat-aircraft project by the end of June. John Weston, British Aerospace group managing director, says that by the close of the month the three ...
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Continental Express is eager for small regional jet
Continental Express has converted the first 25 of 175 options it holds on Embraer EMB-145s. It has also expressed a serious interest in the smaller regional jets now being planned, as it ponders the move to an all-regional-jet fleet. The airline has ordered the longer-range LR version. The ...
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Eurocopter wins Dauphin orders
Eurocopter has netted launch orders for six N4 widebody versions of its Dauphin helicopter from Norway's Helicopter Service group, along with orders for a total of 15 AS350-B3 single-engined Ecureuils and six EC135s. The group has also received European Joint Aviation Authorities certification for the EC120 Colibri. Eurocopter ...
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Advanced Explorer sales
McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Services (MDHS) has boosted the MD Explorer 902 orderbook to 24 with new sales in the Caribbean, Europe and Japan. The more-powerful version of the Explorer, which will be certificated by the US Federal Aviation Administration as the Advanced MD 902 this year, has been ...
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New US F-16Cs will have latest A/B updates
The US Government's 1997 order for six Lockheed Martin F-16Cs will incorporate advanced systems which have previously been included only in F-16A/B mid-life updates for European air forces. Robert Elrod, Lockheed Martin's vice-president for the F-16, says that the aircraft will be fitted with Honeywell colour multi-function displays, ...
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Dasa leads push for European fighter demonstrator
Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) is trying to pull together a European partnership to develop and build a technology demonstrator leading up to a pan-European combat aircraft. Dasa military aircraft division president Aloysius Rauen says that the company has been studying a concept known as the Flying Technology Platform (FTT). ...
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Northern exposure
Max Kingsley-Jones/TORONTO Fortunes of Canadian charter airlines have been mixed in recent years. Established names have disappeared, to be replaced by new carriers seeking to Ìll the void, as the market itself has begun to undergo a metamorphosis. The country's inclusive-tour "holiday" market has traditionally broken ...
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The big picture
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES As he trundles across the Mojave Desert, the driver has no idea that his truck has been detected by the radar as a "mover". More than 70km (43 miles) away, and 27,000ft (8,200m) up, the HISAR operator switches to spot mode and places his cursor ...
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Small is beautiful
Tim Furniss/GUILDFORD When the UK's UoSAT 1 microsatellite was launched in 1984, the project was run by a small team of engineers and graduates in the University of Surrey at Guildford, in the UK. Today that team is Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), a world leader in the ...
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Flanker flies in at the last moment
Sukhoi's Su-27M Flanker (Su-37) thrust-vector technology testbed eventually made it to the show, with only a couple of days to spare. The aircraft is being used by Sukhoi to integrate thrust vectoring with the digital flight-control system. This work will feed into the development of the Su-30MKI two-seat thrust-vectoring derivative ...
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Germany surprises UK with FLA shift
A German volte face over the European Future Large Aircraft (FLA) has allowed the partner nations to release the request for proposals (RFP), but has wrong-footed the UK, which only became aware of the change in Germany's position shortly before an FLA policy group meeting in Paris on 17 June. ...
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Forgeard resists US pressure for tie-ups
French aerospace industry chief Noel Forgeard has hit out at US pressure to form transatlantic alliances and prevent European industry reforming itself. The Matra Haut Technologies president says that his proposed take-over of a privatised Thomson-CSF is "the only solution to the US juggernaut". The European industry "-must ...