Fixed-wing – Page 1331
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Westland and MDC talk over AH-64 Euro support centre
WESTLAND AND McDonnell Douglas Helicopter System (MDHS) are exploring the possibility of establishing an AH-64 support centre in Europe in the wake of the Netherlands decision to procure the Apache. The UK helicopter builder says that it is in informal discussions with MDHS for the UK attack-helicopter programme ...
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Bomber study counts against further B-2s
NORTHROP GRUMMAN'S hopes of an additional procurement of 20 of its B-2 stealth bombers have been dealt a potentially fatal blow, by a congressionally sponsored study, which claims that a follow-on order is unnecessary. The long awaited Institute for Defense Analyses Heavy Bomber Force Study concludes that the ...
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UK/France discuss new strike aircraft
THE UK AND FRANCE are negotiating a memorandum of understanding (MoU) covering development of a new strike aircraft to replace the Royal Air Force's Panavia Tornado GR4 and French air force's Dassault Mirage 2000D/E strike aircraft. The countries have been working at an industry level on several ...
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Chile Receives Phalcon
The Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Phalcon airborne early-warning aircraft was delivered to the Chilean air force on 2 May. The Phalcon had been scheduled for delivery in mid-March, but the Chilean officers who observed the test flights claim that not all the problems with the different electronic systems had been ...
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Liquid launch
The Space Shuttle STS 70 mission in June will be a routine Tracking and Data Relay Satellite deployment and experiments flight, with a five-person crew under the command of US Air Force Col. Terrence Henricks. Its first eight minutes of flight, however, will make history. One of the ...
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EngineAir uses Chevrolet V8 for kitplanes
A heavily modified automobile engine is being developed by Daytona Beach, Florida-based EngineAir to power high-performance kitplanes. The 310kW (420hp) liquid-cooled, all-aluminium, V8 engine is expected to be flown in August, powering a Lancair IVP pressurised, four-seat, kitplane. EngineAir chief executive James Rhom says that the engine is ...
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Future thrust
The next two months will see the debut of key military engine technologies on both sides of the Atlantic. Eurojet's EJ200 should be flown for the first time, while Pratt & Whitney was due to begin testing its latest combat core, the XTC-66. Europe's latest collaborative military engine ...
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The Albatros evolves
The signing of two critical agreements with the Czech Government in April has given Aero Vodochody the official go-ahead for the long-anticipated L-159 combat-aircraft programme. The development agreement completed on 7 April committed the Republic's defence ministry to funding some 25% of the development costs of the programme, ...
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Boeing expects flat year despite victories
A DROP IN deliveries, added to high levels of research-and-development (R&D) funding, hit Boeing's first-quarter net earnings, which fell by 38%, compared with 1994, to $181 million. A total of 59 aircraft were delivered, compared to 82 a year earlier, when deliveries," ...substantially exceeded the nominal production rate ...
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Northrop Grumman starts Tiger avionics testing
NORTHROP GRUMMAN has begun test flights of its F-5E Tiger IV advanced-avionics demonstrator aircraft at Edwards AFB, California. The aircraft made the short hop from Los Angeles International Airport on 20 April after being refurbished at the company's adjacent El Segundo plant with new avionics and some discrete ...
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F-22 weight increase agreed
THE US AIR FORCE and Lockheed Martin/Boeing have agreed to allow the F-22's empty weight to increase by 610kg, or 3%, to avoid pushing costs up. The growth comprises a 385kg weight-budget increase and a further 225kg allowance for uncertainty. The F-22's projected empty weight has increased from ...
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Sextant tests 3-D sound on helmets
Sextant Avionique is experimenting with a three-dimensional (3-D) sound system incorporated into a helmet-mounted display (HMD) to improve threat localisation. Tests are being carried out at Sextant's Bordeaux plant in co-operation with the US Department of Defense, using six pilots from each country's air force. If successful, a ...
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Philippines air force to spend $577 million on new equipment
The Philippines air force is to spend 15 billion pesos ($577 million) on new equipment over the next five years, as part of the country's recently approved defence modernisation plan. The supplementary budget covers the first five years of a planned 15-year programme to restructure and re-equip the ...
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F-15/F16 pod fly-off begins
Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas (MDC) have begun flight-tests of competing reconnaissance versions of their respective F-16 and F-15 fighters. Both companies have dusted off existing reconnaissance pods, flight-tested in the 1980s, to meet a perceived gap in the US Air Force's manned-reconnaissance capability caused by retirement of the MDC ...
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Reflectone UK starts C-130 work
Reflectone UK has been authorised by Lockheed Martin to begin work on the training system for UK Royal Air Force C-130J Hercules IIs. The UK subsidiary of US Simulation Company Reflectone, expects the final contract to be worth more than $70 million. The company will supply two dynamic ...
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DASA ready to join GTAR radar partners
DAIMLER-BENZ Aerospace (DASA) is in the final stages of negotiation to join GEC-Marconi and Thomson-CSF in a next-generation combat-aircraft radar programme. Go-ahead for the deal could come as early as June. The agreement will clear the way for the present GEC-Thomson Radar (GTAR) company becoming GEC-Thomson Daimler-Benz Radar, ...
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Vectoring in vogue
Thrust vectoring technology, is close to becoming a deployable reality. Russia's Sukhoi design bureau is working on a pre-production model of its Su-35 derivative of the Su-27 Flanker, equipped with two-dimensional thrust vectoring nozzles, while in the USA several programmes are under way. Exactly how capable the Su-35 ...
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Civil approach
"The only way we can operate here is by building confidence with the local forces and being, as we say, firm, fair and friendly," says Royal Swedish Air Force Lt. Col. Jan Reuterdahl, United Nations (UN) Senior Air Operations Officer in Zagreb, Croatia. "If we have problems with local forces, ...
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Galaxys tested in formation
THE US AIR FORCE IS awaiting results from formation-airdrop flight-testing of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy transport. The tests were requested by the US Congress to determine whether C-5s could be used to airdrop an Army brigade. Lockheed C-141's, are now used for large-scale airdrops. The flight tests included ...
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German Tornados to get updated cockpit systems
THE GERMAN AIR force is planning to install a display video-recording system (DVRS) in its Panavia interdictor-strike (IDS) Tornados and upgrade the system in its electronic-combat-and-reconnaissance (ECR) versions. While no contract has yet been issued, the German defence ministry says that it wants to install the system in ...