All news – Page 7805
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Franco-German arms link confirmed
AFTER THREE years of discussions, the armaments alliance formed between Thomson-CSF and Daimler Benz Aerospace (DASA) has been formalised, with group sales for the first year expected to top Fr1.2 billion ($226 million). The merger represents another step in the deepening alliance between the French and German aerospace ...
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Bigger and better
Assembly of the MDC F-18E/F is meeting or exceeding its performance guarantees. Graham Warwick/ATLANTA When McDonnell Douglas (MDC) lifted the first F-18E forward-fuselage out of its assembly jig on 12 January, development of the US Navy fighter was on schedule and within budget and the aircraft was ...
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Grifo delays hit Pakistan and Singapore upgrades
Douglas Barrie/LONDON and Andrea Spinelli/GENOA PAKISTANI AND Singaporean air force combat-aircraft upgrade programmes centring on the Fiar Grifo multi-mode radar are experiencing technical difficulties, causing both projects to suffer delays. Singapore's avionics upgrade of its Northrop F-5E/F fighters has run into trouble, with systems integration ...
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France offers Mirages to Philippine air force
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE FRANCE HAS offered to sell an undisclosed number of surplus Dassault Mirage F.1 fighters to the Philippine air force as replacements for its badly depleted fleet of Northrop F-5A/Bs. The ex-French air force aircraft form part of a larger package of defence-equipment sales ...
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Maintenance errors cripple A320
AN EXCALIBUR AIRLINES Airbus Industrie A320 was left with four of its five starboard spoilers disabled following a right-outboard-flap change carried out by British Airways maintenance at London Gatwick Airport, says a recent report by the UK Air Accident Investigation Branch. The pilots departed Gatwick on 26 August ...
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Funding threat to France's FLA plans
FRENCH AIR FORCE chief Gen. Jean-Philippe Douin has warned that France may have to purchase the Lockheed C-130J and ditch the acquisition of the European Future Large Aircraft (FLA) unless his budget gets a major boost. Douin is concerned about whether the Government will have funding available ...
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X-31A crash: air data suspected
INVESTIGATIONS into the 19 January loss of a Rockwell-Daimler-Benz Aerospace X-31A enhanced fighter-manoeuvrability research aircraft are focusing on the air-data system, say sources close to the project. "There is a possibility that hardware operation of some of the systems may be involved [and] it cannot be excluded that ...
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Hughes/Raytheon in bid for US SAM project
HUGHES AND RAYTHEON have joined forces to bid for the US Army's Corps SAM surface-to-air missile programme, which is planned to be the basis of the Medium Extended Air Defence System (MEADS) to be developed co-operatively with France and Germany. The companies were among five manufacturers awarded ...
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US Army examines laser damage to helicopters
THE US ARMY IS TO test-fire laser and ballistic weapons against experimental composite-helicopter tail-booms in a combined test programme with Boeing aimed at improving helicopter battlefield-survivability. The directed-energy weapon tests will be conducted at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, using lasers representative of projected threats such as slewed-beam ...
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Martin says APALS order is near
MARTIN MARIETTA expects to announce a launch order in March for "significantly more than 100" Autonomous Precision Approach and Landing Systems (APALS) from an unnamed operator. The company is guaranteeing US certification of the radar-based APALS as equivalent to a Category III instrument-landing system (ILS) by the end ...
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Samsung purchase plan alarms KAL and Asiana
SOUTH KOREAN industrial conglomerate Samsung is seeking to purchase two long-range wide-body passenger aircraft, ostensibly for company use, but raising the fears of Korean Air (KAL) and Asiana that it intends to establish a rival third national carrier. Samsung is understood to be discussing the purchase of ...
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TWA clarifies its Airbus A330 order
TRANS WORLD AIRLINES (TWA) has clarified plans for its outstanding order for Rolls-Royce Trent-powered Airbus A330s, which it had previously indicated would be cancelled under its planned financial restructuring (Flight International, 18-24 January, P8). The airline says, that the agreement for ten firm and ten option A330s remains ...
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Bargain carriers establish hubs away from bases
US LOW-COST CARRIERS, Midway and ValuJet Airlines, are establishing new hubs. Chicago-based Midway has reached agreement with American Airlines to lease gates at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, North Carolina, while Atlanta-based ValuJet has begun operations from Washington Dulles International Airport. Midway plans to shift most of its operations from ...
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Dornier expects 328-120 approval
DORNIER EXPECTS to receive Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) certification for its improved 328-120 regional turboprop in May and to deliver the first aircraft shortly afterwards to launch customer Formosa Airlines. The Dornier 328-120 is a further development of the recently certificated -110, offering improved runway performance. The ...
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Nagoya crash victims prepare to sue CAL
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE CRASH VICTIMS' relatives and survivors of the China Air Lines (CAL) Airbus Industrie A300-600 accident on 26 April, 1994, at Nagoya, Japan, say that they are to sue the carrier for pilot error. The action coincides with publication of the first draft of ...
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TEAM spirit returns to Aer Lingus staff
TEAM AER LINGUS reports that it is back in business and beginning to rebuild its third-party maintenance work, following the labour disputes which brought the Irish maintenance operation near to closure in 1994. As part of the 1994 Aer Lingus survival plan, the TEAM workforce had been ...
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UK ministers will make decision on Phoenix UAV
THE FUTURE of the troubled GEC-Marconi Phoenix unmanned-air-vehicle programme will be determined at ministerial level. Submission of a critical report into the six-year-late project is expected in the next few months. The Phoenix reconnaissance and targeting system is under review, with several options being considered, including procuring an ...
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Apstar 2 satellite lost in Long March explosion
Tim Furniss/LONDON THE APSTAR 2 communications satellite was destroyed on 26 January when a Long March 2E rocket exploded 51s after launch from Xichang, China. The spacecraft loss was a record for the local insurance industry - Pacific Insurance of Shanghai had insured Apstar 2 for $160 ...
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Air France to prune fleet
Julian Moxon/PARIS AIR FRANCE is to cancel all its outstanding orders and options for Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and sell part of its existing fleet as part of the restructuring plan, introduced by its president, Christian Blanc. The programme, introduced in 1994, has already succeeded in reducing ...