Fixed-wing – Page 1210
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Falkland Islands airline ready to launch operations in April
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON A new UK airline will launch operations from the Falkland Islands in mid-April in support of the region's emerging oil industry. In the longer term the airline has ambitions to become a British Airways franchisee. British South Atlantic Airways has signed a short-term deal with Australia's ...
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Messier-Bugatti aims to double repair business
Messier-Bugatti aims to double its repair business to achieve annual sales of Fr1 billion ($165 million)over the next five years. This ambition follows the integration of the Dowty Aerospace landing gear maintenance unit into the French company. "We intend to become one of the five world leaders in this ...
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RAF and Royal Navy seek improved accuracy bomb by 2003
Douglas Barrie/LONDON The Royal Air Force and Royal Navy are aiming to introduce an improved accuracy, increased stand-off, air-delivered bomb into service on their combat aircraft by 2003. Under the programme, the RAF's Panavia Tornado GR4, British Aerospace Harrier GR7, Sepecat Jaguar GR1B, Eurofighter EF2000 and the Royal ...
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USAF deploys B-2 on overseas mission
The US Air Force is deploying two Northrop Grumman B-2 stealth bombers to Andersen AFB, Guam, between 23 March and 3 April. The overseas deployment, the first for the low-observable bomber, is part of an Air Combat Command sponsored exercise. It is the B-2's first deployment for sustained training ...
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First C-130J tour generates sales leads
Lockheed Martin is preparing bids in response to interest generated by the C-130J Hercules 2 sales tour through southern European and the Middle East. Of the 12 countries visited, most have active procurement requirements "of some degree of maturity", says Rick Hundley, vice- president international business development for Lockheed Martin ...
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Boeing/DARPA agree canard rotor/wing trial
Boeing's Phantom Works and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have signed a $24 million cost sharing contract for a proof of concept demonstration of the canard rotor/wing (CR/W). The three year programme is to include flight testing of a subscale unmanned vehicle to demonstrate vertical take-off and ...
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P&W tests F119 seal failure fix for F-22
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Pratt &Whitney resumed testing of the F119 fighter engine on 19 March to clear a near term solution to a compressor seal failure which led to the halt of all development testing. P&W hopes that the cure will allow flight testing of the F119 powered Lockheed Martin/Boeing ...
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Hawkeye 2000 AEW prepared for tests
Northrop Grumman plans to fly the prototype E-2CHawkeye 2000 airborne early warning aircraft next month. The aircraft is the first to incorporate all of the upgrades planned for the Hawkeye 2000, including the co-operative engagement capability (CEC). An E-2C has been flying since January 1997 with the mission computer ...
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Boeing expects South Korea to go ahead with AEW proposals
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing remains optimistic that the South Korean air force will press ahead on schedule with its airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft procurement, despite the country's economic difficulties. Jack Sperry, Boeing 767 airborne warning and control system (AWACS) programme manager, says: "Our perception is that Korea is a ...
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NHI presses France to revise NH90 date
Julian Moxon/PARIS Gert Kromhout/THE HAGUE NH Industries (NHI) is asking the French defence ministry to bring forward by up to seven years its planned 2011 service entry date for army versions of the NH90 tactical and naval transport helicopter. Under current planning, France will be the last of ...
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Boeing tests RTM power on Apache
Boeing and prime contractor GKN Westland Helicopters are preparing to start ground tests of the first WAH-64D Apache attack helicopter development prototype for the British Army, having fitted Rolls-Royce Turboméca RTM322 engines in an existing Longbow Apache airframe at Boeing's Mesa, Arizona, helicopter plant. Andrew Walbridge, deputy chief designer ...
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Class war
Douglas Barrie/RAF LEUCHARS The target is a power station in the Hebrides, Scotland, with the aim being to disable its generating capability for four to six weeks. A strike force of Panavia Tornado GR1s is tasked with the mission - following devolution, relations between Scotland and England have ...
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LHTEC bids to power the Tiger
LHTEC's T800-801 turboshaft is being proposed to Eurocopter as an alternative powerplant for export versions of the Tiger attack helicopter. "We're in the process of responding to a request for proposals," says Fred Dickens, T800 business development manager for the AlliedSignal/Allison joint venture. "We are not being considered for the ...
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Super Chinnock sale
Boeing Helicopters has begun building the first of six CH-47SD heavylift helicopters destined for an un-named foreign customer, which is believed to be Singapore. The helicopter will also incorporate improvements to the CH-47D Chinook, due for roll out on 31 October, 1999. Improvements include a fully integrated glass cockpit, more ...
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Dassault targets ASRAAMs for Rafale
Dassault Aviation is considering integrating the Matra BAe Dynamics Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) for export variants of the Rafale combat aircraft. Dassault says that the missile "is available as part of the weapons suite, depending on negotiations". The costs of integrating the missile "would probably have to ...
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Problems keep Chengdu F-10 on the ground
Chinese aircraft manufacturer Chengdu is carrying out fast taxi trials of its F-10 combat aircraft at its site in southern China, but unspecified problems have so far kept the aircraft from making its maiden flight. Taxi trials of the F-10, which is effectively a derivative of the Israel Aircraft ...
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F-22 manufacturer offers US GAO cost re-assurance
Lockheed Martin/Boeing officials have told US General Accounting Office auditors that delays in the F-22 Raptor's flight test programme should not raise the cost of engineering and manufacturing development (EMD), which is capped at $18.9 billion. The first flight of the F-22 was three months late, and flight testing ...
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JDA seeks cash to fund future attack helicopter programme
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE The Japan Defence Agency (JDA) is seeking initial funding in its next budget to begin a formal study of future attack helicopter requirements. Interested local and foreign suppliers are already formulating a range of options with which to respond. Full-scale funding for the AH-X programme is expected ...
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Daewoo tools up for KTX-1
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Daewoo Heavy Industries of South Korea plans to complete development and operational flight testing of the KTX-1 turboprop basic trainer by September. It is already preparing tooling, in advance of an anticipated final government go-ahead to begin production in 1999. A fifth and final prototype was ...
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Raptor reduction
Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems says that the man hours required to produce mid-fuselage sections for the Lockheed Martin/ Boeing F-22 Raptor have been reduced by about 60%, beating cost-reduction projections. The company has delivered two mid-fuselages so far and will ship four more this year. Source: Flight International