Fixed-wing – Page 1282
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USAF selects 757 for VIP travel
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC THE US AIR FORCE has selected Boeing 757-200s to replace its ageing VC-137s (military Boeing 707s), operated by the 89th Airlift Wing for VIP travel. It says that Boeing's proposal provided "-the best balance of requirements, price and other considerations to the Air Force". ...
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RAF rules out mini-B2 but looks at stealth EF2000
Douglas Barrie/LONDON THE UK MINISTRY of Defence (MoD) is expected to give the go-ahead in September for the feasibility study for the Royal Air Force's future offensive aircraft (FOA). A "mini-B2" design has been ruled out, but a stealthy development of the Eurofighter EF2000 will ...
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S Korea eyes F-15 for its F-X competition
SOUTH KOREA has requested information on the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) F-15 for its upcoming F-X fighter competition. MDC says that South Korea has not asked for information on the F-18, adding weight to local reports that the air force is leaning towards an F-15-class fighter for the 100-aircraft requirement. ...
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MDC takes F-18 on sales tour of Central Europe
McDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) has begun a ten-day demonstration tour with its F-18 of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. The Czech Republic air force, meanwhile, has completed an eight-flight evaluation of the competing Lockheed Martin F-16 as the three central European nations move towards acquiring Western fighter aircraft. ...
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767 AWACS makes first flight
THE FIRST BOEING 767 AIRBORNE Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft had its maiden flight on 9 August, with a 2h 55min sortie from Everett, Washington. The flight marks the start of a seven-month test programme, before the installation of the aircraft's prime mission equipment (Flight International, 14-20 August, P4). ...
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Grob crash
Konrad Lewald, sales manager of German aircraft manufacturer Burkhart Grob, has died in an accident involving one of the company's G115T aerobatic trainer aircraft. His co-pilot, an air force major from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was also killed. The accident occurred near Schwabm_nchen. Eyewitness reports suggest that the aircraft ...
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Nellis training
Cubic Defense Systems has won a modified US Air Force contract, now worth $43.6 million, to streamline and accelerate the upgrade work on the Nellis Air Combat Training System. Under the $18.7 million modification to the original contract, completion will now be brought forward by five months, to April 1998. ...
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Rockwell delivers upgraded C/KC-135
ROCKWELL'S COLLINS Avionics & Communications division has delivered the first Boeing C/KC-135 Pacer Crag (compass, radar, global-positioning system (GPS)) aircraft to the US Air Force, marking the start of the qualification test-and-evaluation phase of the programme. More than 600 aircraft will have avionics upgrades, which involve the installation of Rockwell's ...
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RAAF prepares AEW shortlist
AUSTRALIA PLANS to release a shortlist of contenders for its airborne early-warning-and-control (AEW&C) re- quirement by the middle of September. Subject to Government approval, a request for tenders is expected to be issued at the same time, with the winner to be announced in late 1997. The Royal ...
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Philippines budget reduction curtails air force ambitions
Paul Lewis/MANILA THE PHILIPPINE Government has halved its projected 15-year defence-modernisation budget, to 170 billion pesos ($6.48 billion), throwing into doubt many of the air force's long-term procurement plans. President Fidel Ramos, under pressure from the Philippine Senate's finance committee, has cut by 50% the ...
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Corrosion found in Kuwaiti F-18s
KUWAIT IS HAVING corrosion problems with some of its 40 McDonnell Douglas (MDC) F-18s, supplied after the Gulf War in 1991. MDC acknowledges the problems and says that an industry team is being sent to Kuwait repair the aircraft. The US manufacturer declines to identify the nature of ...
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DARPA investigates ways to counter cruise missiles
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA CITING THE proliferation threat from low-cost cruise missiles, the US Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) is soliciting proposals to develop a cost-effective way of countering such weapons. Potential bidders were briefed on the Low-Cost Cruise-Missile Defence (LCCMD) programme at the end of July. ...
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Michot will take over as Aerospatiale president
Julian Moxon/PARIS YVES MICHOT has been appointed to replace Louis Gallois as president of France's Aerospatiale. The move has been welcomed by observers of the French aerospace industry, as the state-owned giant prepares for further integration with the European aerospace industry. Michot joined Aerospatiale in ...
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USAF punishes 16 for CT-43 disaster flight
THE US AIR FORCE, has disciplined two generals and 14 other lower-ranking servicemen, for their roles in the 3 April Boeing CT-43A crash in Croatia, which killed US Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown and 34 others. It is understood that the flight should not have been conducted, since USAF ...
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Transfield/Lockheed Martin team for Pacific Rim market
LOCKHEED MARTIN and Transfield Defence Systems are working to establish a joint-venture company to compete for defence and civil contracts in Australia and South-East Asia. A memorandum of understanding, has already been signed, by Lockheed's Ocean, Radar and Sensor division and Transfield Australia's second largest defence contractor. ...
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Racal-Thorn concludes Chinese surveillance-radar negotiations
RACAL-THORN Defence is to sell up to eight surveillance radars to China, in a deal worth around £40 million ($62 million). The radars are variants of the Searchwater, which is used in maritime surveillance and airborne early-warning applications by the UK armed forces. Negotiations over the sale have ...
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AWACS 767 begins flight testing
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES THE FIRST BOEING 767 airborne warning and control-system (AWACS) aircraft was expected to begin a seven-month flight-test programme with a sortie from Everett, Washington, on 9 August. The 767-27C, which is a modified extended-range -200ER, is the first of four destined for ...
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Tailless tactics
The 1980s tailless-fighter concept could be a reality after 2000 Mastery of thrust vectoring is paving the way for tailless-fighter research. Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES HIGH OVER THE dry lakebed at Edwards AFB, California, on 24 April, 1996, the pilot of a NASA McDonnell ...
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Civil and military helicopter directory
Douglas Barrie, Max Kingsley-Jones and Jennifer Pite/LONDON DESPITE THE recent gloom in the civil-helicopter business, the manufacturers are now more confident that a recovery is within sight, and have been bullishly developing new models. In 1995, US-manufactured new civil helicopter shipments totalled 314, a slight improvement ...
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Japan goes it alone
Japan's helicopter industry is only now beginning to come of age, with the development of its own indigenous designs Paul Lewis/TOKYO JAPAN'S AEROSPACE INDUSTRY lays claim to a rich and varied history of manufacturing helicopters, dating back more than 40 years. For the most part, however, this ...