Fixed-wing – Page 1183
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Singapore aims to pull US strings for Longbow
The US Congress is being asked to approve the release of the Northrop Grumman/Lockheed Martin Longbow millimetre wave radar to Singapore in support of the Boeing AH-64D Apache bid for the Singapore air force's new attack helicopter, to be decided soon. Singapore is pressing the USA to release the ...
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Striking possibility
Howard Gethin/LONDON Long-range precision strike remains an ability all commanders desire, but the cost and complexity remain high. Using manned strike aircraft allows a man-in-the-loop and lots of firepower, but is expensive and vulnerable, especially over a battlefield. Artillery cannot strike in depth beyond about 40km (25 miles), even with ...
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Diminishing returns
Paul Phelan/WELLINGTON For almost 10 years Chief of Air Staff Air Vice Marshal Carey Adamson watched the stature of the Royal New Zealand Air Force's (RNZAF) being steadily diminished by successive waves of political negativity, before its future was tenuously stabilised in 1996. At that point, a defence assessment ...
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Thomson expands on Australian simulation
Thomson-CSF is to acquire Australian simulation firm Wormald Technology, as part of moves to secure a strategic foothold with which to contest increasing Australian Defence Force requirements for computer-based training and mission rehearsal systems. The acquisition, which was announced on 13 October, will see the French company take over ...
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Raytheon to supply F-16 training units to Egypt
Raytheon Systems is to supply F-16 unit training devices (UTDs) to the Egyptian air force, under a US Air Force contract worth $26 million. The UTDs have been ordered under an indefinite delivery/indefinite quality contract originally awarded by the USAF in 1996. Under this contract, the air force has ...
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Sweden's Nyge Aero expands with acquisition in Norway
Swedish flight services contractor Nyge Aero has acquired Norway's Norsk Flytjeneste to expand its electronic warfare (EW) training and target-towing businesses. Based at Sandefjord, Norsk Flytjeneste will operate with Nyge Aero Norden as the holding company, although its flight activities will be fully integrated with those of its new ...
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France studies Alpha Jet life extension
France's defence ministry is studying a new plan to upgrade the cockpit of the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet trainer and keep the aircraft in service well into the next century. A decision on whether to go ahead is likely before the end of the year, says a source at Dassault ...
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China gears up to produce Flanker
Shenyang Aircraft (SAC) of China is preparing to begin licence assembly of its first Sukhoi Su-27SK fighter by the end of the year, under an agreement which could stretch to a 200-aircraft programme. The commencement of the licence production deal represents the third tranche of Su-27 deliveries to the ...
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Gripen squadrons may go as Sweden cuts costs
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH The supreme commander of the Swedish armed forces, Gen Owe Wiktorin, has proposed cutting the final number of Saab JAS39 Gripen squadrons from 12 to 10, as a cost-cutting measure. Reduced flying by the remaining Gripen squadrons would save the service around SKr 150 ($18 million) a ...
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Israel forms F-16 tie with Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin, Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and Elbit Systems have signed a memorandum of understanding on future F-16 upgrade programmes. The IAI/Lockheed Martin package is primarily intended for the Israeli air force's fleet of F-16A/Bs, but one of Lockheed Martin's roles will be to promote the upgrade to the ...
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Italy studies the Yak/AEM-130 as Russia falters
The Italian air force has had initial briefings on the Yak/AEM-130 advanced jet trainer, as the Aermacchi/Yakovlev joint programme becomes increasingly an Italian venture due to Russia's financial woes. In a separate move, the Italian Government is planning to provide around L390 billion ($241 million) in funding over the ...
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Patriot is top for Greece's air defence package
Howard Gethin/LONDON Greece has selected the Raytheon Patriot missile system over the Russian S-300 (SA-12 Gladiator) to form the core of its air defence system upgrade. An order worth more than $1.1 billion is likely to follow final negotiations. The announcement came at the end of the Defendory ...
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Taiwan hovers on Huey replacement
Taiwan is planning to order nine improved Boeing CH-47SD Chinook transport helicopters, while wavering on a final decision to purchase a much larger quantity of utility machines to replace its locally built Bell UH-1Hs. The US Congress is to be asked to approve a $486 million deal covering the ...
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'Pilot's pal' system flies the Apache Longbow
Boeing has flight tested a talking cockpit management system, called the rotorcraft pilot's associate (RPA), in a modified AH-64 Longbow Apache attack helicopter, part of an $80 million advanced technology demonstration by the firm's Phantom Works. The system, which uses pilot-activated voice commands, includes new special cockpit controls and ...
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Mediterranean stand-off
Andrzej Jeziorski/ATHENS Early in September, Greece accused neighbouring Turkey of repeatedly violating its national airspace, and the Athens flight information region (FIR),with its military aircraft, in a series of incidents symptomatic of the tension between the two countries. The Greek air force claimed that a total of 26 ...
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Good flying ?
Christopher Yeo/SACHON, SOUTH KOREA Keen to apply aircraft development skills honed on licence manufacturing, South Korea's aerospace industry is facing a major test as it awaits an order for its first indigenously designed product - the KT-1 Woong Bee turboprop trainer. The South Korean air force has completed ...
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German Tiger is endangered as new government seeks savings
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Concern is mounting in Germany that the new government-elect of Gerhard Schröder may try to cut the costs of the Eurocopter Tiger programme, even though it insists that the procurement of the helicopter for the army remains secure. Eurocopter says it is too early to say ...
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Flight Visions delivers head-up displays for X-35 demonstrator
Flight Visions has delivered the first head-up displays (HUDs) for Lockheed Martin's X-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) concept demonstrators. The first two of seven Night Hawk HUDs have been installed in integration laboratories. Flight test units will be delivered this month. Although it covers only HUDs for the concept ...
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South Africa gets ready to announce fighter trainer winner
South Africa is expected to announce the winning contractors for the first phase of an estimated R30 billion ($5 billion)-worth of arms purchases by the end of the month, according to Alec Erwin, South African trade and industry minister. South Africa plans to purchase a wide variety of armaments, ...
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South Korea aims for ASRAAM missile again
South Korea is expected to submit shortly a second request to the US Air Force F-16 System Programme Office (SPO) for the release of integration data for the Matra BAe ASRAAM short-range air-to-air missile, after having earlier been refused the information. A South Korean request made in 1997 to the ...