Fixed-wing – Page 1301
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MDC plans to test commercial computers in AV-8Bs and F-15s
Graham Warwick/ST LOUIS IN A BID TO halve the cost of combat-aircraft software upgrades, McDonnell Douglas (MDC) will flight-test commercial computers in its F-15 and AV-8B technology-demonstrators. MDC says that it plans to show that the same navigation-software module can be operated in two different computers, in two ...
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Russia/China close to clinching Su-27 deal
Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW RUSSIA HAS VIRTUALLY concluded a $2 billion deal for the sale of Sukhoi Su-27 Flankers to China, which should lead to licence production of the aircraft. The new contract is being prepared in Moscow, ready for Russian president Boris Yeltsin to sign the final ...
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FLA partners reject Lockheed Martin approach
EUROPEAN NATIONS involved in the Future Large Aircraft (FLA) programme have rebuffed an offer from Lockheed Martin to merge their project into a joint effort to produce a turbofan-powered replacement for the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter. Lockheed Martin Aerospace boss Mickey Blackwell led a team to Europe late in ...
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E&S secures final piece in bid to be system supplier
EVANS & SUTHERLAND (E&S) has signed an agreement with SEOS Displays covering the supply of display equipment for the US company's visual systems. E&S says that the agreement with UK-based SEOS completes the company's strategic plan to establish itself as an independent supplier of visual systems, rather than remain just ...
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USAF upgrades KC-135 devices
MORE US AIR FORCE Boeing KC-135 training devices are to be upgraded. Motion systems have already been added to two fixed-based KC-135 operational flight trainers (OFTs), and two more are being upgraded. Now the computers will be replaced in all 19 OFTs, new instructor stations installed and the ...
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Alliant to build pivot shafts for F-22
ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS has been awarded a $13 million contract to produce composite horizontal-stabiliser pivot shafts for the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 fighter aircraft. The order follows a development effort under which Alliant (formerly Hercules Aerospace) demonstrated that it could produce the complex shaft using automated fibre-placement technology, for a ...
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Aerospace personality of the year
Joint winners: Dan Tellep and Norm Augustine Positions: Chairman and President Organisation: Lockheed Martin THE US DEFENCE industry has seen some spectacular consolidation over the past five years, but none more dramatic than the merger of Lockheed and Martin Marietta to form the giant Lockheed ...
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India chooses Litening
INDIA HAS PROVISIONALLY selected Rafael's Litening laser-designator pod to equip its fleet of Dassault Mirage 2000 and Sepecat Jaguar combat aircraft. The pod was chosen in preference to the Thomson-CSF Common Laser Designator Pod (CLDP) and the GEC-Marconi Thermal Imaging Airborne Laser Designator (TIALD) pods. The ...
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Singapore delays tanker choice
SINGAPORE HAS pushed back selection of a new multi-role aerial-refuelling tanker/transport aircraft until April, allowing the air force more time to re-assess its programme requirements. Four competing bids have been submitted by Airbus Industrie, Boeing, Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and McDonnell Douglas (MDC). A decision was planned for ...
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DoD close to releasing proposals for JAST
THE US DEPARTMENT of Defense (DoD) will release the formal request for proposals (RFPs) for its Joint Affordable Strike Technology (JAST) project at the end of February, kicking off a competition to produce an estimated 5,000 fighter aircraft. Three responses to the RFP are expected, from Lockheed-Martin, Boeing ...
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Singapore looks beyond F-16C/Ds
The REPUBLIC OF Singapore Air Force (RSAF) has begun to study its fighter requirement beyond the Lockheed Martin F-16C/Ds now on order, with a tentative in-service date for its future combat aircraft planned for between 2005 and 2010. Several European and US manufacturers are keen to address the ...
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Helicopters
Winner: Eurocopter Location: Paris, France Achievement: Application of advanced noise-reduction technologies throughout the design of the low-noise EC 135 helicopter THE AWARDS JUDGES decided that two entries in this year's Helicopters category stood out "head and shoulders" above the others. Those were from Eurocopter for ...
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Military aviation
Winner: McDonnell Douglas Location: Long Beach, California, USA. Achievement: Successful entry into service of the C-17 transport and an outstanding first year of operations. At the start of 1995, the McDonnell Douglas C-17 Globemaster III entered full operational service with the US Air Force. In the first ...
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Russia's air-traffic volume continues to fall
TRAFFIC VOLUMES in Russia have fallen for the fifth successive year, according to the Russian Transport Department's 1995 annual report, due to be published on 16 February. The latest decline leaves passenger numbers at barely one-third of 1990's peak, when 90.7 million boardings were recorded in Russia, then part of ...
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Raytheon confirmed to start JPATS production
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC WORK ON THE $7 billion US Air Force/Navy Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) is now under way after the US General Accounting Office (GAO) rejected the final protest over selection of Raytheon's Beech MkII in June 1995. The GAO (the investigative arm ...
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Lockheed/Alenia sign for Spartan development
LOCKHEED MARTIN AND Alenia have signed a preliminary agreement to develop jointly the C-27J Spartan derivative of the Italian company's G.222 medium-lift military transport. The deal is closely related to Lockheed Martin's attempt to sell the C-130J Hercules 2 to the Italian air force, to meet its interim ...
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PZL Turbo Orlik prototype lost in accident
TWO TEST PILOTS died when a prototype PZL-Okecie PZL-130 TC Turbo Orlik trainer crashed in Poland on 25 January. The accident took place near Warsaw, and early reports suggest that the aircraft may have suffered an engine failure. The PZL-130TC is an export variant of the Orlik, with ...
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Fatal tomcat crash
On 29 January, a US Navy Northrop Grumman F-14A fighter crashed into a suburb in Nashville, Tennessee, killing the two-man crew and three others on the ground. Source: Flight International
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A different guard
Tony Newton/LONDON THE SCENE, IS THE flight deck of a scheduled flight into Jersey, in the UK's Channel Islands. The main wheels touch down, but the nose-wheel stays high and finally hits the tarmac with the sort of thud, which passengers feel and engineers worry about. As the ...
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Spain picks Cougar for army requirement
THE SPANISH defence ministry has selected the Eurocopter Cougar for its army transport-helicopter requirement. The order, for 15 machines, has yet to be approved by the Government, however. Spain's air force, already operates 15 Super Pumas, (from which the Cougar is derived) but the army deal was, nevertheless, ...