All news – Page 7461
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News
DarkStar flight tests will be resumed in mid-year
Flight testing of the stealthy Lockheed Martin/ Boeing DarkStar long-endurance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) will resume in the second or third quarter of 1997, once the second prototype is completed. Two further DarkStar systems, including two UAVs and associated payloads, are also being built. They will be delivered ...
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F-18E/F sea trials ready to begin
INITIAL SEATRIALS of the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) F-18E/F are scheduled to begin on 17 January. The trials will take place on the Navy's latest aircraft carrier, the USS Stennis, and will involve a series of arrested landings and catapult take-offs with the first two-seat development aircraft, the F1. ...
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German air force will update its Tornados
The German air force is to upgrade the navigation capabilities of its Panavia Tornado fleet with the installation of a Litef integrated global-positioning system and laser inertial-navigation system (GPS/LINS). The parliamentary defence approvals committee has cleared the procurement, and according to the defence ministry, a contract should be ...
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Portuguese PMAWS
The Northrop Grumman AAR-54 imaging ultra-violet Passive Missile Approach Warning System (PMAWS) is to be installed on Portuguese air force Lockheed Martin C-130Hs. The terms of the contract have not been disclosed. This contract covers the C-130Hs being used in air operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Deliveries are planned for the third ...
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RAAF picks Thomson
Thomson-CSF has won a contract to expand and improve the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) radar sites in Queensland and New South Wales. Its Airsys subsidiary, Thomson Radar Australia, will supply three interim radar display systems to supplement the existing Thomson-supplied equipment, pending completion of the forthcoming Australian Air Defence ...
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Indian AF crash
All 22 people on board were killed when an Indian air force Hindustan Aeronautics 748 twin turboprop transport crashed on 24 December, 1996. Initial reports suggest that the aircraft may have suffered an engine failure before hitting a hill near Nellore, 240km (130nm) from Madras, according to Airclaims. ...
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Boeing confirms 767-400ERX stretch but raises 747-X doubts
Boeing HAS confirmed that the stretched 767-400ERX is on course to be launched this year, but raises further doubts about the timetable for a go-ahead on the proposed stretched 747. Ron Woodard, president of the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, says that the main board gave its formal approval ...
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Airbus selects two vendors for advanced FMS
Airbus INDUSTRIE has selected Honeywell and Sextant Avionique/Smiths Industries to supply future air navigation system (FANS)-capable flight-management systems (FMS)on its aircraft from 1998. Honeywell plans to gain certification for its upgraded FMSon the A330 and A340 in April 1998, with A319/320/321 approval following six months later. Sextant/Smiths has ...
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STAe will expand leasing business
Singapore Technologies Aerospace (STAe) plans to acquire a leasing fleet of up to 20 aircraft over the next five years as part of a wider effort to expand the commercial side of its business. STAe, together with its parent holding company Singapore Technologies, has already established a joint-venture ...
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An-140 nears completion
Assembly of the first An-140 twin turboprop at Antonov's Kiev, Ukraine, factory is almost completed. The Klimov TV7-powered 50-seater, which is the successor to the ubiquitous An-24, is expected to be rolled out in March. A Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127-powered version has also been proposed. Reports have linked Antonov ...
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Bombardier beats Embraer to ASA deal
Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) has followed its fellow Delta Connection carriers Comair and Skywest with the selection of the Canadair Regional Jet for its regional-jet needs, after a competition which also involved the Embraer EMB-145 (Flight International, 8-14 January, P10). The Atlanta, Georgia-based regional says that it will ...
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SIA's Indian airline investment clears another major hurdle
Singapore Airlines' (SIA) long-running plan to establish a new domestic Indian airline in partnership with the TATA Group has cleared one major hurdle, with approval from India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). The deal could still be derailed by the country's civil-aviation ministry, however, which plans to ban foreign equity ...
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Polynesian Otter crash
A Polynesian Airlines de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter crashed into a hill in stormy weather on its initial approach to Apia, Western Samoa, on 8 January, killing three of the five people on board. According to the carrier's managing director Richard Gates the aircraft, inbound from Pago Pago, American Samoa, ...
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British Aerospace AMJ sees BAe 146 sales rise as markets harden
British Aerospace Asset Management-Jets(AMJ) is targeting further sales from among its 107-strong fleet of leased BAe 146s this year, as the market for regional jets strengthens. AMJ general manager Andrew Davies says that, over the past four years, the organisation has completed its initial aim of re-establishing the ...
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MHS sells support
Malaysian Helicopter Services (MHS) plans to sell its offshore helicopter support operation MHS Aviation to DRIR Equities for a reported M$80 million ($31.7 million) by mid-1997. The announcement follows the recent disposal by MHS of its military-aircraft maintenance company, Airod. Source: Flight International
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Raytheon's TI purchase leaves options open for Hughes bid
RAYTHEON IS TO purchase the Texas Instruments (TI) defence electronics business for $2.95 billion, in a cash deal which is seen as leaving the group's options open for a possible take-over of Hughes Electronics. Northrop Grumman, which itself bid unsuccessfully for TI, is also understood to be sharpening up for ...
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Sabena revives study of off-shore contracts
Sabena has confirmed that it has resurrected cost-saving plans to employ flying personnel on out-of-country contracts. The proposal, which is still under study, would see pilots and cabin crew continue to be based in Brussels, but paid in Switzerland, probably via Sabena's partner Swissair, with the transaction made through a ...
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Czechs approve Vodochody sale
The Czech Government has approved the sale of a stake of around 34% of financially troubled jet-trainer manufacturer Aero Vodochody to a strategic partner. The successful bidder is due to be announced by 2 April. A sale to a foreign investor is not ruled out, although some within ...
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Safety defeated
THE YEAR 1996 SAW the largest number both of airline fatal accidents and of fatalities on record. Other serious worries for the air-transport community highlighted by 1996 include the number of deaths on the ground caused by crashes - also the worst ever - and some compelling trends indicating that ...
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Pentagon approves US Marine Corps UH-1N upgrade
The US Marine Corps has awarded Bell Helicopter Textron a $134 million contract to initiate a UH-1N light-utility-helicopter modernisation programme in preference to buying the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk. The project was held up by the Department of Defense (DoD) in October 1996, when further military-helicopter commonality studies ...