Fixed-wing – Page 1229
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Pilot reflects on first flight of Raptor
Initial pilot reaction to the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is that is an aircraft "quick in roll and acceleration, yet very stable with excellent control" in formation flying and approach configuration, says chief test pilot Paul Metz. Describing the 58min first flight on 7 September, Metz says that ...
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Calspan and UK agency aim to create JSF in-flight 'simulator'
Guy Norris/BEVERLY HILLS The UK Defence Research Agency (DRA) and Calspan, a US-based flight-test support company, are to develop the DRA's British Aerospace Harrier Vectored-thrust Aircraft Advanced Control (VAAC) tests into a flight-control development aircraft for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) project, it was revealed at the 41st ...
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Full-scale KTX-II launch waits for US green light
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Samsung and Lockheed Martin are hoping to launch full-scale development of the KTX-II advanced-trainer/light-combat aircraft by early November, provided that the programme receives final US Congressional blessing. The South Korean Government is awaiting a US export licence to be granted before proceeding with the ...
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Russians order French equipment for MiG-ATs
Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW MAPO-MIG has agreed to buy Snecma/Turboméca Larzac 04-R20 engines and Sextant Avionique avionics for the first ten MiG-AT advanced trainers, in an agreement which may be underwritten by Fr400 million ($67.5 million) in French Government export guarantees. The Russian air force has declared its ...
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F-117s fly again
The US Air Force's remaining 53 Lockheed Martin F-117 stealth fighters have been returned to flight status after the US Air Force lifted its grounding order which resulted from the crash on 14 September of an F-117 during an air show near Baltimore, Maryland. The aircraft broke apart and crashed ...
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Misguided weapons
The Chinese air force's guided-weapons-procurement programmes mirror its fixed-wing projects in their profusion, and the leisurely pace of development. Like its combat-aircraft projects, the air force's air-launched-weapons procurements have relied heavily on licensed and unlicensed manufacture of Western designs while also pursuing the development of indigenous designs. ...
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Cultural revolution
The Chinese air force struggles on with its long march to modernity Douglas Barrie/London On paper, the Chinese air force is by far the greatest of Asia's Tigers, with its vast fleet of combat aircraft. In reality, it is closer to a woefully inadequate circus of museum pieces. ...
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Portugal nears SAR selection
The Portuguese air force is expected to make a decision by the end of the year on the selection of a search-and-rescue (SAR) helicopter, after evaluating the last of the three contenders for the contract. The evaluation of the Eurocopter AS532 Cougar MkII is due to begin on ...
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Classroom revolution
Paul Lewis/Beijing Chinese civil-aviation has been transformed since the country began to open up in the early 1980s. China's monolithic state carrier and its antiquated Soviet hardware have gone, replaced by a proliferation of international, regional and provincial airlines, operating the latest in Western designs. More recently, there ...
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Boeing struggles with Super Hornet wing-drop problem
Boeing is examining modifying the wing on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in an attempt to solve a wing-drop problem, having exhausted options to resolve this with software changes. The problem is centred on what the company describes as "uncommanded sudden wing drops during manoeuvring flight" which have come ...
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Boeing
David Bowman has been appointed Boeing programme manager for the MD-17, the proposed commercial freighter version of the US Air Force's C-17 Globemaster III cargo jet. He replaces John Feren, who has transferred to the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group in Seattle. Most recently, he was director of McDonnell Douglas' nacelle/engine ...
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Denmark backs AIM-120
Hughes and Danish Aerotech have opened the Consolidated Missile Maintenance Test Centre - Europe at Karup AB, Denmark, to support European users of the Hughes AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile and, potentially, other Hughes weapons. Source: Flight International
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FLA partners wait on Germany to confirm development funding
Julian Moxon/PARIS Optimism over the prospects for the European Future Large Aircraft (FLA) military transport is being tempered by continued uncertainty over the commitment of Germany, which has the largest requirement of the six partners. Doubts centre on whether Germany will sign up for its share ...
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Global Hawk first flight scheduled for November
The Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical Global Hawk high-altitude endurance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) will have its first flight in late November at Edwards AFB, California, says the company. The first flight of the Tier II Plus Global Hawk, now designated the RQ-4A, was planned for early 1997. The delay ...
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-as Gripen enters air force's combat aircraft inventory
The Swedish air force has completed its first base-battalion dispersed-operations exercise involving a squadron of Saab JAS39 Gripen aircraft, clearing the final hurdle to declaring the aircraft combat ready. According to the air force, the existing JAS39 Operational Test and Evaluation Unit will officially become the first combat-ready Gripen squadron ...
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GAO claims JPATS project is flawed
The US General Accounting Office (GAO) says that the US Air Force should rewrite the procurement plan for the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) to give the taxpayer a better deal and create a more realistic training-aircraft requirement. The USAF is buying 740 Raytheon T-6A Texan II ...
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RAF EF2000 BVR missile hit by further delays
Douglas Barrie/LONDON The UK Ministry of Defence has delayed by a further two years the in-service date (ISD) of its next-generation beyond visual range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) for the Eurofighter EF2000. An ISD of 2007 is now expected. The lengthening delays to the BVRAAM project make ...
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Sweden funds JAS39 demonstrator-
AndrzejJeziorski/TROLLHATTAN The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) is to fund a flying technology demonstrator for future upgrades of the Saab JAS39 Gripen. Mats Hugosson, head of marketing at Gripen engine manufacturer Volvo Aero, says that the demonstrator will be flying in three to five years, and ...
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Cuts hit French defence plans
Julian Moxon/PARIS French defence-procurement plans face further turmoil after the new Government cut almost another 10% off the 1998 budget and promised a "fundamental review" of defence spending later this year. The cuts, amounting to 9.7% for 1998, are aimed at several major programmes, with Dassault's ...
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Dassault Aviation plans supersonic business jet
Dassault Aviation is considering development of a supersonic jet (SSJ) business jet, six years after rival aircraft manufacturers Gulfstream Aerospace and Sukhoi aborted the last project aimed at the supersonic corporate-jet sector. "The time is now right to talk about a Falcon SST - the so-called global twins ...