Fixed-wing – Page 1299
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Yakovlev begins high angle-of-attack trials with Yak-130D
Yakovlev has begun high angle-of-attack (AoA) trials with the prototype of its Yak-130D advanced jet trainer, with the company confident that it has been able to resolve earlier problems with the aircraft's winglets. Andrei Sinitsin, chief test pilot at Yakovlev, says: "A big part of the test programme ...
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Gunships for peace
Camouflaged in the forest, looking down on the River Danube, is a Belgian army tactical air-control party (TACP) practising its skills at calling in air strikes. There are no NATO aircraft on this exercise, however. Instead, two white-painted Mil Mi-24 helicopters can be seen flying along a wood line into ...
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Bell steals a march on rivals for Colombian Huey re-engineing
BELL HELICOPTER Textron is to upgrade as many as 14 UH-1 Huey helicopters now used by Colombia for drug-interdiction and other military missions. The modernisation project, which has yet to be formally announced, gives Bell the lead on two other joint ventures seeking UH-1 re-engineing contracts. In recent ...
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Australia and Indonesia plan a defence for disputed territory
In an unprecedented move, Australia and Indonesia are putting together a $1 billion defence package, covering the acquisition and deployment of air- surveillance and air-defence equipment, to protect key economic assets in the South China Sea. Defence officials from both countries have been working since November 1996 to ...
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Novel simulator attracts trainers
The world's military pilot-training providers are showing interest in a "revolutionary" simulator visual system which is being designed as a development tool for the Saab JAS39 Gripen multi-role fighter, according to the system's software developer Equipe Electronics. The visual system gives not just the full lateral "wrap-around" picture ...
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Clinton stymied by vested interests
Sir - Why cancel the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F22, McDonnell Douglas F18E/F, or even the Joint Strike Fighter, purely to accelerate delivery of the Bell-Boeing V-22 tiltrotor? (Flight International, 23-29 April, P18). I had wondered why certain US politicians had been trying to make out that the F18E/F "-didn't ...
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Commercial moves
LOCKHEEDMARTIN IS poised to return to commercial aerospace, through a possible alliance with Airbus Industrie and by expanding its existing aircraft-maintenance capability. Micky Blackwell, president of Lockheed Martin's Aeronautics sector, says that the US company must increase its international business and boost its share of the maintenance market if it ...
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Euro-frightener
MANY A SHIP, IT IS SAID, is spoiled for a ha'p'orth of tar. The aeronautical equivalent could be the biggest-ever European collaborative fighter project being spoiled for the sake of not a half-penny, but a coin worth maybe a couple of dollars. The Eurofighter EF2000 is technically ready ...
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GE maintenance business challenged by P&W moves
Pratt & Whitney is seeking to combat General Electric Aircraft Engines' growing dominance of the powerplant maintenance market with the launch of its own scheme to secure a major slice of the business. The US engine maker is offering airlines a "thrust-manager" deal covering the entire life of ...
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CMS eyes Australian stand-off contest
CMS DEFENSE SYSTEMS has fit-checked its AFDS-T-powered submunitions dispenser on a Royal Australian Air Force General Dynamics F-111C, in preparation for a possible bid to meet Australia's Air 5398 requirement for a stand-off weapon. Fit checks have also been conducted by Texas Instruments, with its Joint Stand-Off ...
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Shorts faces penalty over C-23 delays
Short Brothers faces penalty charges because of continuing delays in delivering the C-23B variant of the Shorts Sherpa to the US Army. The company is behind schedule in delivering C-23B Plus transport aircraft to the Army, and further delays are expected because of nagging technical problems. ...
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Royal Navy begins process to replace Sea King Commando
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is considering a replacement for the Royal Navy Westland Sea King HC4 Commando assault helicopter under the auspices of the Future Amphibious Support Helicopter (FASH) project. The MoD is looking to introduce a replacement for the HC4 into service around 2008, according ...
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Training contracts
British Aerospace Flight Training Australia (BAFTA) has announced new pilot training contracts worth A$3 million ($2.3 million). The Australian Army will now contract all its basic flying training to BAFTA. The move follows criticism of the Army's recruiting and training, and a current tri-service review in the wake of a ...
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Airservices/RAAF team
Airservices Australia and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) have signed a new agreement to establish joint civil and military air-traffic-control-tower training courses. The joint courses will be conducted at the RAAF's School of Air Traffic Control at East Sale, which has an advanced visual tower-simulator. Under the new arrangement, ...
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USAF F-16c to get strike upgrade
The US Air Force is to upgrade some of its Lockheed Martin F-16Cs, to provide the aircraft with a more-capable targeting and strike capability. Aircraft based at Aviano in Italy, with the 31st Fighter Wing, are to be modified to allow the F-16's improved data modem (IDM) to ...
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BAe plans negotiations for Canadian Hawk trainer deal
British Aerospace is to begin formal negotiations to provide up to 25 Hawk 100 trainers to Canada, following the latter's decision to proceed with the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) programme. Canadian defence minister Douglas Young announced the approval for the NFTC on 23 April, saying that ...
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Kamov flies modified Ka-50
Russian helicopter manufacturer Kamov has begun flight testing an all-weather attack variant of the Ka-50 Hokum, the Ka-50N, fitted with a more capable sensor suite. The Ka-50N prototype has been equipped with a nose-mounted forward-looking infra-red (FLIR) sensor, understood to have been supplied by Thomson-CSF. The ...
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Evergreen has to switch VERTREP demonstrators
The US Navy's USS Saturn is due to depart at the end of April for five months at sea with different aircraft from those originally envisioned to be operated by commercial operator Evergreen Helicopters. The Military Sealift Command (MSC) sea trial marks the third in a series of ...
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Participation in JSF gathers momentum
THE Netherlands and Norway have formally joined the US Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) project, but Denmark has yet to decide on participation. On 16 April, the two countries signed a JSF requirements-validation memorandum of agreement (MoA), which commits them to the JSF. The US Department of Defense says ...
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Direct to target
INTERNATIONAL INTEREST in the US Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is growing as flight testing continues to demonstrate an accuracy better than the 13m (40ft) requirement. McDonnell Douglas (MDC) has already proposed the JDAM to at least one foreign country. JDAMs have been dropped from the Lockheed Martin ...