Fixed-wing – Page 1228
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Clinton veto scuttles ASAT/SR-71
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and the development of a kinetic-energy anti-satellite (KE-ASAT) kill vehicle (KKV) have fallen foul of US President Clinton, who used the "line-item veto" to scrap funding for both. The funds were cut as Clinton revised the $248 billion fiscal year 1998 defence spending bill. ...
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US military starts Huey re-engine project
The US Army National Guard has initiated the long-awaited programme to re-engine 131 ageing Bell Helicopter UH-1 light utility helicopters with Light Helicopter Turbine Engine (LHTEC) T800 turboshafts. The initial engine certification work, which covers the installation of LHTEC CTS800-54 engines in two UH-1s, will be paid for ...
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Chek Lap Kok Airport. David...
Chek Lap Kok Airport. David Solloway becomes general manager for India, replacing Richard Snyder, who is to retire. Solloway was formerly divisional manager of marketing and sales for Pacific South, based in Hong Kong. Bruce Kerr, formerly controller for Pacific South, is named divisional manager of marketing and sales for ...
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Sikorsky flies first fleet-support CH-60
Sikorsky has flown the first CH-60 fleet combat-support helicopter for the US Navy. The aircraft is a hybrid between the UH-60 Black Hawk transport and SH-60 Seahawk naval helicopters, and combines the UH-60 airframe with the SH-60 dynamic system, blade and tail folding and automatic flight-control system. The ...
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Upgraded F-16 goes to Netherlands air force
The Royal Netherlands Air force received the first production Lockheed Martin F-16 mid-life upgrade (MLU) aircraft at Leeuwarden air base at the end of September. The aircraft has been assigned to the operational test and evaluation team at the base, pending the start of the conversion of the first squadron, ...
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Russian forces exercise their nuclear muscles
Russia's strategic missile forces, navy and air force units carried out a large-scale nuclear-weapons exercise on 3 October, including the launch of land-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and air-launched cruise missiles. Cruise missiles were launched from Tupolev Tu-22M3 Backfire, Tu-95MSBear and Tu-160 Blackjack bombers as part of the ...
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Comanche out
The Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche helicopter has been pulled from the $3 billion competition to supply Turkey with more than 100 advanced attack helicopters. The company says that the Comanche is no longer a contender as it will not be in production in time to meet Turkey's procurement schedule. Boeing ...
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Gatwick Avionics snaps up competitor Thurston
UK general-aviation company Gatwick Avionics (Redhill) has acquired rival Thurston Avionics for an undisclosed sum. The Stapleford-based company will continue to operate under its existing title for the time being. According to Tony Okill, managing director and co-owner of Gatwick Avionics, however, it will be "-renamed Gatwick Avionics (Stapleford) at ...
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USAplans strike-UCAV demonstration
Plans to demonstrate an unmanned combat air-vehicle (UCAV) capable of air-defence suppression and mobile-target attack have been unveiled by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This is the first major programme to be launched involving UCAVs. A $125 million advanced-technology demonstration is planned by DARPA and ...
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USAF F-22 award
The US Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin $1.2 billion as part of a restructured F-22 Raptor engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) effort. The USAF says that the award is in response to recommendations from the Joint Estimate Team (JET), formed to guard against cost overruns in the advanced tactical ...
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Cash problems put Chengdu FC-1 in holding pattern
China's Chengdu FC-1 lightweight fighter project is on hold until at least 1998, because of a shortage of funding and continuing Chinese and Pakistani air force wavering on support for the programme. The Pakistani air force has made procurement of the single-engine FC-1 fighter contingent on the Chinese ...
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Sukhoi continues S-32 flight tests
Sukhoi has carried out at least three test lights of its still-classified forward-swept-wing next-generation fighter since late September. Flight tests of the Sukhoi S-32, exclusively revealed in Flight International (8-14 October), have included at least one test in which the pilot, Iogor Votintsev, retracted the undercarriage. The S-32, ...
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Persistent ambitions
Unmanned combat-aircraft are coming, but they will not be going into battle any time in the too-near future. Harsh lessons learned developing relatively simple and inexpensive unmanned air-vehicles (UAVs) have made manufacturers and operators alike extremely cautious in planning the introduction of more costly and sophisticated uninhabited combat air-vehicles (UCAVs). ...
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JSF demonstrators enter manufacturing stage
Boeing and Lockheed Martin are close to "cutting metal" for their respective Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) concept-demonstrator aircraft. So far, Boeing has produced trial sections of thermoplastic-composite wing skin, while Lockheed Martin has received a composite inlet-duct test article produced by subcontractor Alliant Techsystems. The wing lay-up mandrel ...
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Sukhoi
Sukhoi has flown its secret S-32 forward-swept-wing fighter aircraft. The test flight took place on 1 October from the Gromov Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky, near Moscow. The S-32, or S-37 project as it may now be known, remains shrouded in secrecy, with Sukhoi unwilling to discuss the project. ...
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B-2 pitch oscillation mystifies US pilots
Guy Norris/Beverly Hills US Air Force test crews flying the Northrop Grumman B-2A bomber have been unable to pin down the cause of a mysterious residual pitch oscillation which affects the aircraft at low altitude and high speed. The 1.5Hz pitch oscillation which has been observed ...
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Boeing steps up Central European F-18 effort
Andrezj Jeziorski/MUNICH Boeing has added momentum to its F-18 marketing campaign in Central Europe, signing industrial agreements in the Czech Republic and Poland covering future co-operation. The US company has struck an agreement with the Polish Aviation Institute (IL), outlining co-operation in 20 advanced-technology fields related ...
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Lockheed Martin completes final tests on C-130J stick-pusher
Lockheed Martin is completing final tests of a stick-pusher system designed to beat unexpected stall characteristics with its C-130J Hercules II. The discovery of unusual stall behaviour has delayed delivery of the first aircraft to the Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and forced Lockheed ...
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Ericsson plans flying AESA demonstrator
Andrzej Jeziorski/ MOLNDAL Ericsson Microwave Systems is planning to have a flying demonstrator of its active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar operational in 1999. The company says that it is keen to find partners to continue the project, but will start to build the demonstrator on ...
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F-16 spin-recovery technique invented
A new spin-recovery technique for later-generation, Block 40/50, Lockheed Martin F-16s equipped with inlet-mounted pods is to be written into the aircraft's flight manual after investigation work by the US Air Force's F-16 Combined Test Force at Edwards AFB, California. The test team discovered that inlet stores, such ...