Fixed-wing – Page 1294
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Swidnik signs helicopter-partnership deals
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH SOUTH KOREA'S DAEWOO is to buy 35 Polish PZL-Swidnik W-3 Sokol helicopters, and to co-operate with Swidnik in production and marketing of the type. Swidnik is also co-operating with Italy's Agusta on production of the A109 helicopter. A memorandum of understanding was signed ...
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US DoD clears weapon-sales bottleneck
THE US DEPARTMENT of Defense (DoD) has cleared a logjam of nearly $2 billion in proposed weapons sales to allies, including four Boeing KC-135 refuelling tankers for Singapore and 21 extra Lockheed Martin F-16Cs for Egypt. The USA will also lease 30 Northrop T-38 Talon trainers to South ...
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Aermacchi rolls out all-digital MB339
Julian Moxon/VARESE ITALIAN JET-TRAINER manufacturer Aermacchi has rolled out the first all-digital version of its MB339 from its Varese factory, near Milan. A maiden flight is planned for later this month and delivery of the first two of a planned 15 aircraft for the Italian air force ...
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Bunch of spares
The US General Accounting Office says, that the US Air Force and US Navy, budgeted $132 million more than needed for aviation spare parts, because of questionable policies concerning requirements. It says that the USAF failed to consider $72 million in on-hand assets when it prepared its fiscal year 1996 ...
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Opinicus completes low-cost simulator
Karen Walker/TAMPA A US COMPANY HAS completed a low-cost simulator which it believes has applications for research, training and even for military mission-rehearsal, for which several such devices could be networked together. Opinicus, based in Clearwater, Florida, expects to deliver its first Reconfigurable Research and Engineering ...
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R-R and Hamilton Standard build dual-purpose FADEC
ROLLS-ROYCE and Hamilton Standard, are developing an advanced, dual-purpose, full-authority digital engine-control (FADEC) system, designed to be fitted to two engine types powering US military aircraft. R-R has carried out tests of a Hamilton Standard-built prototype system at its Bristol, UK plant. The system is fitted to an ...
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RAF aims for multiple arrays
Douglas Barrie/EDINBURGH THE ROYAL Air Force's next generation of strike aircraft is likely to be designed with multiple radar-antenna-arrays located around the airframe. This will provide a "radar picture" considerably larger than at present. The Future Offensive Aircraft (FOA), now in the conceptual-design phase, will ...
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Raytheon expands with Chrysler unit purchases
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA RAYTHEON HAS AGREED to buy Chrysler's defence and aerospace businesses for $475 million. Aircraft-modification specialist Chrysler Technologies Airborne Systems (CTAS) and defence-electronics company Electrospace Systems (ESI) will become part of E-Systems, acquired by Raytheon for $2.3 billion in May 1995. Raytheon says that ...
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Lockheed Martin makes delayed C-130J first flight
LOCKHEED MARTIN flew the C-130J Hercules 2 for the first time on 5 April. This follows delays, which have pushed back certification of the transport from December to April-May 1997. The company is negotiating revised delivery schedules with its initial customers, the Royal Air Force, US Air ...
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GE improves CF34 bid for Nimrod 2000
GENERAL ELECTRIC has submitted revised formal proposals to British Aerospace to power its Nimrod 2000 contender for the Royal Air Force replacement maritime-patrol aircraft requirement. GE is offering the CF34-8N, a version of the 58kN (13,000lb)-thrust CF34-8C turbofan under development for the Bombardier Canadair CRJ-X stretched Regional ...
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Further Chinook upgrade envisioned
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC THE US Army hopes to refurbish at least 300 ageing Boeing Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to an improved-cargo- helicopter (ICH) configuration, but the $3.3 billion rotorcraft modernisation effort is competing for limited funding against other weapons programmes. The critical Operational Requirements Document (ORD) ...
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USN eyes common support aircraft to replace S-3/E-2
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC THE US Navy will determine over the next two years whether a new Common Support Aircraft (CSA) should be developed to replace about 260 aging in-service aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin S-3B Viking and ES-3A Shadow, and the Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye and ...
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Lockheed Martin confirms follow-on transport plan
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA LOCKHEED MARTIN is looking for partners to develop a multi-purpose large aircraft to replace Boeing KC-135 tankers, Lockheed C-141 transports and tanker/transports such as the Lockheed TriStar and McDonnell Douglas KC-10. The aircraft, dubbed the "World Airlifter", would also be offered as a ...
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Liberty digitises USAF X-rays
LIBERTY TECHNOLOGIES has sold a RADView radiographic-film digitiser and workstation to the US Air Force. It will be used by the Warner-Robins logistics centre, at Robins AFB in Georgia. The system will archive and manage radiographic images from the centre's inspections of Lockheed Martin C-5 and C-141 transports, and McDonnell ...
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737 crashed using 'primitive' navigation aid
THE US AIR FORCE Boeing T-43A (737-200) which crashed on 3 April on approach to Dubrovnik, killing US Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, was using a single, relatively primitive non-precision navigation aid in weather which was significantly worse than forecast, the USAF has revealed (Flight International, 10-16 April). When ...
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Precision acquisition
Precision Aerospace (PAC) has acquired the assets of Kent, Washington-based Pacific Propeller, which overhauls a wide range of propellers for commercial and military aircraft. Pacific Propeller is one of the largest independent propeller-service centres in the world. PAC, which already owns Twin Commander Aircraft, Precision Airmotive, Precision Engine Controls, Precision ...
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Egypt plans to buy additional F-16Cs
Egypt is to buy an extra 21 Lockheed Martin F-16Cs to complete the re-equipment of two airbases. A letter of request has been received by the US Government. Authorisation for the deal is expected by the end of May, enabling deliveries to begin in 1999 and continue into 2000. ...
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Pentagon plans aerostat cruise-missile defence
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US military is moving ahead with plans to field helium-filled aerostats to help support cruise-missile defences. A new tri-service project office, called the Joint Aerostat Project Management Office for Cruise Missile Defence is being established under US Army auspices at the ...
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DarkStar rises over California
The Lockheed Martin/ Boeing DarkStar high-altitude endurance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) had its first flight at Edwards AFB, California, on 29 March. The 21m-span UAV had a fully automated flight lasting 20min from take off to landing using differential global-positioning-system (GPS) navigation signals for guidance throughout. "The ...
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Kuwait opts to buy armed Black Hawk
KUWAIT HAS agreed to buy an armed version of the Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk to meet its attack-helicopter requirement, rather than the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) AH-64A Apache. The Black Hawk will be supplied without the sophisticated combined forward-looking infra-red (FLIR)/laser designator used on armed Black Hawks operated by ...