Defence Helicopters news – Page 454
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US Air Force places Capricorn in orbit
The US Air Force has launched a prototype of a new-generation National Reconnaissance Office satellite data-system (SDS) spacecraft, called the Capricorn, on 29 January, aboard an ILS International Launch Services Atlas 2A booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida. SDS spacecraft, which are operated in highly elliptical, 38,400 x 320km, orbits, ...
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Bosses mull Airbus merger ideas
Douglas Barrie/LONDON Airbus Industrie presidents were due to meet on 2 February to hear new proposals from a high-level working party tasked with finding an acceptable solution for a merger of Aerospatiale, British Aerospace, and Daimler-Benz Aerospace into a single European aerospace giant. It is hoped that the ...
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FSI wins V-22 deal
Bell Boeing has selected FlightSafety International (FSI) to supply a full-flight simulator for the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport. The device will be delivered to the US Marine Corps air station at New River, North Carolina, and supported by FlightSafety Services. FSI was selected over Hughes (now Raytheon), which developed the ...
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KTX-II faces new threat from cuts
South Korea's on/off development of the Samsung/ Lockheed Martin KTX-II advanced-trainer/light-combat aircraft is again facing the threat of delay, as the country's defence ministry conducts an across-the-board review of military expenditure. Seoul is cutting the 1998 defence budget by 10% after the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) recent $57 billion ...
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Launching forward
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Lockheed Martin/Boeing's F-22 represents the pinnacle of US military-avionics development, but the air-superiority fighter is not scheduled to become operational until 2005. Meanwhile, manufacturers have begun development of the next generation of avionics, for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), which, probably optimistically, is scheduled to enter service ...
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USMC tests multiple cargo hook
A cargo-hook concept which allows multiple drops from heavy-lift helicopters is being evaluated by the US Marine Corps at the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland. Developed by Utah-based SkyHook Technologies, the new system uses a tetrahedral frame attached to the usual single-hook pendant. Each of the ...
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JT8D-200 gives new life to 707
Pratt & Whitney has signed an agreement with the Seven Q Seven group to certificate the JT8D-200 turbofan for re-engined Boeing 707s and, possibly, KC-135 military variants. The "7Q7" programme could potentially involve the re-engineing of up to 500 in-service 707-320s and KC-135s with the 98kN (22,000lb)-thrust JT8D-219, says ...
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Enhanced Skynet 4 launched
Tim Furniss/CAPE CANAVERAL The UK's Skynet 4D military-communications satellite was lofted into orbit by a three-stage Boeing Delta 2 booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 10 January. The launch was the first of 18 planned by the Delta this year and the first of 11 Matra Marconi Space ...
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USN picks UAVs for VTOL demonstration
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Navy will test three entirely different unmanned-air-vehicle (UAV) designs in its forthcoming vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) demonstration, which the contractors hope will lead to the deployment of an operational system. In late 1997, the UAV Joint Project Office chose Bell Helicopter, Bombardier and Science ...
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Bell Boeing 609
Sales of the Bell Boeing Model 609 civil tilt-rotor are ahead of expectations, with deposits received for more than 40 aircraft so far. "The order rate is beyond what we hoped for this early," says marketing chief Ron Reber. "We are overwhelmed by the response." The $8-10 million pricetag ...
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Quick-change artist
Peter Gray/ARLINGTON The tilt-rotor concept has been around for many years, but only recently has the first military application (the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey) received production approval from the US Department of Defense. Even more recently, Bell and Boeing have launched the Model 609 civil tilt-rotor which is scheduled to fly ...
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AIDC and Latecoere team to bid for Airbus contracts
Taiwan has signed an agreement with Latecoere of France to team with Aerospace Industrial Development (AIDC) to bid for Airbus A340-500/600 work. It also expects to start subcontracting to Boeing shortly, as part of a move to reduce the company's reliance on military work. Under a memorandum of understanding ...
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Airjet cancellation sparks reactions
Julian Moxon/Paris Aero International (Regional)'s (AI(R)) decision to cancel the Airjet 70 regional jet programme has had considerable fall-out in other sectors of the industry, with French-engine builder Snecma saying that it is pulling out of a deal with Pratt & Whitney Canada to develop the SPW14 engine selected ...
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From strength to strength
Peter Henley/MARIETTA The C-130 Hercules has been in service with military and commercial operators around the world since the 1950s. Demand for the type has been such that it has stayed in production throughout that period. It has appeared in various guises since the original A model. The major ...
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Enaer plans to fly Chilean 707 tanker/AEW in 1998
ENAER plans to fly its modified Chilean air force Boeing 707 combined tanker/airborne-early-warning (AEW) aircraft for the first time early in 1998. Modification work, being carried out with the support of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), will see the aircraft fitted with nose- and side-panel-mounted phased-array radars similar to those fitted ...
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Poland threatens to cancel Huzar tender
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH The new Solidarity Government in Poland is threatening to cancel the controversial avionics and weapons tender for the planned PZL-Swidnik Huzar battlefield helicopter. Programme sources say that the current tender could be dropped if no compromise agreement is reached between Boeing, which is offering an international ...
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VTOL contracts loom as CL-327 UAV flies
The US Navy is expected soon to select the unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) for its vertical- take-off-and-landing (VTOL) demonstration, following the successful first flight of one of its prime candidates for the programme. The UAV Joint Programme Office "is reviewing the bids and is close to awarding a contract ...
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Project Wedgetail contracts awarded
Three consortia, led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon E-Systems, have been awarded long-awaited initial-design-activity (IDA) contracts for Project Wedgetail, Australia's competition for an airborne early-warning-and-control-system (AWACS) aircraft. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is expected to pick the Project Wedgetail winner before the end of 1998, and award ...
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USAF receives E-8
The US Air Force will achieve the initial operational capability for the Northrop Grumman Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) this month. The initial fielding landmark was made possible after the US aerospace firm delivered the third production JSTARS aircraft to the USAF in November. Although not yet "operational", ...
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CH-60 completes first shipboard deployment
The Sikorsky Aircraft CH-60 fleet-combat-support helicopter has successfully completed its first shipboard deployment in the Atlantic as part of a US Navy test programme to demonstrate that it has enough performance for the required missions. The CH-60 combines features of the US Army's UH-60 Black Hawk and the USN's ...