Fixed-wing – Page 1256

  • News

    PNG hides Hinds

    1997-02-26T11:41:00Z

    The Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government seems to have acquired a small number of armed helicopters, possibly Mil Mi-24 Hinds, from an Eastern European source for use in the Bougainville secessionist insurrection. It is reported that the aircraft were delivered about two weeks ago in an unidentified large freighter of ...

  • News

    ARINC Skydoc puts maintenance data on the Internet

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    ARINC HAS LAUNCHED a system for the on-line distribution of maintenance documentation. The Skydoc service provides secure access, via the Internet, to ARINC's maintenance-information database, which is updated continuously with the latest manufacturers' bulletins and regulatory authorities' directives. Atrial of the system involving Airbus aircraft is under way at Lufthansa. ...

  • News

    MDC fits redesigned C-17 gear pods

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    McDonnell Douglas (MDC) has begun installing the first shipset of redesigned main-landing-gear pods for its C-17 military transport. The pods were revised under the "design for manufacturing and assembly" concept, aimed at cutting production costs. Introduced from aircraft No 33, the pods are projected to save $45 million over the ...

  • News

    Enhanced awareness

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    At the end of 1995, Sextant Avionique delivered the first production sets of avionics for the multi-role Dassault Mirage 2000-5. The first production deliveries of the aircraft for the French air force are scheduled to take place this year, and the -5 is also being promoted for export. ...

  • News

    Pentagon to hold talks with Europe on UAVs

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    The US Department of Defense (DoD) is to hold talks in April with France, Germany and the UK over possible involvement in the next phases of the high-altitude-endurance unmanned air vehicle (HAE UAV) and other programmes now being pursued under its new advanced-concept-technology demonstration (ACTD) initiative. Paul Kaminski, ...

  • News

    Advanced Flanker future hinges on export

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    The future of the Sukhoi Su-27M (Su-35) advanced variant of the Su-27 Flanker has become dependent on the design bureau securing an export order for the aircraft following the effective collapse of Russian air force funding for the project. According to Moscow sources, state finance for the development ...

  • News

    RAAF seeks initial funding for 707 tanker upgrade

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is hoping to secure initial funding in financial year 1998/9 to replace or upgrade its fleet of Boeing 707-300 tankers. According to local defence sources, Australia wants to advance its tanker replacement into the next five-year procurement cycle, because of rising concern ...

  • News

    Mergers mould shape of US industry

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    The frenetic pace of merger and acquisition activity has again reshaped the league of US manufacturers for 1996 and more is expected this year, as the spate of big deals causes reverberations among the second tier of aerospace and defence companies. As expected, Lockheed Martin emerges as the ...

  • News

    BAe buys balance of USA's Reflectone

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    BRITISH AEROSPACE IS to acquire the balance of US simulator manufacturer Reflectone. The UK firm already owns 48% of the Tampa, Florida-based company, and has agreed to pay roughly $86 million for the outstanding stock. Reflectone president Richard Snyder says that the company's management is "strongly in favour" ...

  • News

    Rolls-Royce aims to clinch RAAF Hawk deal with Adour power

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    Rolls-Royce is offering Australia a full-authority digital electronic-control (FADEC) version of the Adour Mk871, in a last-ditch effort to swing a deal to power the air force's recently selected British Aerospace Hawk 100 lead-in fighter trainer. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is to make a decision shortly ...

  • News

    Australia starts AEW&C evaluation programme

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    Australia has embarked on a 30-month programme to evaluate and select an airborne early-warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, following the submission of preliminary tenders by three competing consortia led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon E-Systems. The Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Project Wedgetail calls for initial design-activity ...

  • News

    The Australian International Airshow Down...

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    The Australian International Airshow Down Under 97 was held atAvalon Airport in Victoria from 18-23 February. Despite a marked drop-off in the number of display aircraft over earlier shows, the event attracted a wide range of defence and general-aviation exhibitors. There was particular interest in Australia's pending requirement for an ...

  • News

    Norway narrows fighter choice to EF2000/F-16

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    The Norwegian defence ministry has confirmed that it has shortlisted the Eurofighter consortium and Lockheed Martin to begin negotiations to select a winner to meet its KFA-96 fighter requirement to replace its obsolescent Northrop F-5s. The decision, first revealed in Flight International (12-18 February), will eventually lead to ...

  • News

    Netherlands defence ministry advises Slovenia on choice of fighter aircraft

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    THE ROYAL Netherlands Air Force is conducting force structure and procurement studies for Slovenia as part of the ex-Yugoslavian republic's attempts to establish an independent air force. Slovenia began talks with the Netherlands Government in the third quarter of 1996 for assistance in establishing its air force, viewing ...

  • News

    Today tackles tomorrow

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    DESIGNERS OF TOMORROW'S fighters are already wrestling with an unusual problem - obsolescence. Not of the aircraft as weapon systems, but of key components, principally in the avionics. The problem is being made worse by the protracted development and production timescales caused by reduced defence budgets, and by the decline ...

  • News

    Belgian police receives first MD Explorer

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    Belgium's national police force, the Gendarmerie, has taken delivery of its first McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems MD Explorer helicopter. A second will be delivered in June, and the force also has an option on a third. The Explorer will replace four ageing Sud-Aviation Alouette IIs and an Aerospatiale Puma. The ...

  • News

    Boeing picks Hughes maintenance trainers for F-22 programme

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    HUGHES TRAINING (HTI) is to provide maintenance-training devices for the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 fighter. The $22 million development award from Boeing follows receipt of a $28 million contract to supply the initial suite of F-22 pilot-training devices (Flight International, 19-25 February). The maintenance-trainer contract covers the supply of ...

  • News

    Tayside success

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    Tayside Aviation has landed a ú6 million ($9.7 million)contract from the UK Ministry of Defence to provide flying scholarship training for up to 520 people a year. The five-year deal, which includes an option for a two-year extension, starts on 1 April. The Dundee, Scotland-based flying school has been conducting ...

  • News

    TTS moves Heathrow into its Orbit

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    THOMSON TRAINING & Simulation (TTS) is to relocate its Orbit Flight Training subsidiary from East Midlands Airport to a site near London Heathrow. As part of the move, planned for early 1998, the independent pilot-training centre has sold its two Boeing 737 simulators to Continental and Southwest Airlines. ...

  • News

    Reflectone wins deal

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    REFLECTONE HAS won a $34 million contract to supply the South Korean army with flight simulators for the Bell AH-1F Cobra attack and Sikorsky UH-60P Black Hawk transport helicopters. The simulators will be installed in a new army-aviation training centre. Each will have a five-channel Evans & Sutherland ESIG-4500 visual ...