Fixed-wing – Page 1333
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FLA partners grapple to meet May deadline
Douglas Barrie/LONDON THE EUROFLAG Future Large Aircraft (FLA) management agency will be wound up in May, but the partner nations and Airbus Industrie are struggling to have a replacement industrial organisation ready in time to meet this target date. Establishing the FLA programme under the auspices ...
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Rivals push attack-helicopter into politics
RIVAL BIDDERS FOR the UK's £2.7 billion attack-helicopter programme are pushing the competition into the political arena, lobbying fiercely over which bid will best strengthen the UK defence industrial base. Earlier this month, GEC effectively tore up the manufacturing basis of its bid with the Bell Cobra Venom, ...
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Hunter near to delivery
THE FIRST TRW/Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Hunter joint tactical unmanned air vehicle (JT-UAV) is scheduled to be handed over to the US Army by the end of April. Flight-testing of the Hunter continues in the USA and Israel to avoid further delays in delivering the system. By the ...
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RAF C-130J takes shape
Lockheed Martin has begun final assembly of the first C-130J Hercules 2 transport. The aircraft, the first of 25 stretched C-130J-30s for the Royal Air Force, is one of an initial batch of five production Hercules 2s which will be used for flight testing. Three of the initial batch are ...
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Eurocopter sees Osiris through trials
EUROCOPTER HAS COMPLETED its first series of flight tests with the Osiris mast-mounted sight for its Tiger attack-helicopter programme. The sight is being developed by Aerospatiale Missiles in conjunction with the SATEL consortium. The Osiris was test flown on a Eurocopter Panther which also carried the Euromissile Long Range Trigat ...
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Singapore/Australian air force plan in doubt
FAILURE TO deliver promised economic benefits is jeopardising a Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) proposal to base a second wave of Singaporean armed forces training aircraft and personnel in Australia. Approval for the plan hinges on Singapore's delivery of economic benefits foreshadowed in an earlier memorandum ...
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Israel and Chile settle Phalcon disagreement
ISRAEL AND CHILE have settle a row which threatened to delay substantially delivery of the Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)-developed Phalcon airborne early-warning system to the Chilean air force. Following agreement between IAI and the Chilean air force, the aircraft will now be delivered early in May. Chile had ...
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Snecma's losses treble as restructuring continues
SNECMA'S LOSSES MORE than trebled in 1994 as the French engine manufacturer bore the brunt of heavy restructuring costs and new programme costs. Sales are also expected to plummet. The group finally revealed that it had lost nearly Fr2.2 billion ($440 million) in 1994, confirming earlier projections of ...
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Workshare on FLA will be partners' choice
INDUSTRY, NOT government, will be responsible for allocating work-share on the Future Large Aircraft (FLA) military transport project. According to a senior programme manager, the move marks a keynote change in the way collaborative European programmes are run. Aerospatiale military vice-president Philippe Picq says that the industrial partners ...
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Thai fighter purchase tied to AMRAAM
THAILAND HAS LINKED the purchase of any new US-built fighter aircraft to the supply of the Hughes AIM-120 AMRAAM active-radar-guided air-to-air missile, and is threatening to turn to other foreign manufacturers if necessary. The Thai air force has a requirement for a third squadron of front-line fighters to ...
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Lockheed Martin promises to reduce price of F-16s
LOCKHEED MARTIN is guaranteeing a cost saving of 15% on the F-16 if the US Government allows the manufacturer to switch from military-procurement practices to commercial standards. Commercialisation of production would reduce the price of an F-16 fighter sold to, or through the US Government to below the ...
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Russian air force faces deep crisis
Aircraft obsolescence, spares shortages and procurement problems are leading to a serious downgrading of the Russian air force's combat capability, according to a senior air force official. The air force's plight was detailed by deputy commander-in-chief Col. Gen. Mikhail Soroka at a Russian parliamentary hearing. Soroka ...
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UK awards IR countermeasures system order
A NORTHROP GRUMMAN team has won a $275 million UK Ministry of Defence (MoD)-led contract to develop an advanced-infra-red (IR) countermeasures system for Royal Air Force and US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) aircraft. The directed-IR countermeasures system, the Nemesis, is to provide an active defence against short-range IR-guided ...
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Israel offers cruise missile for export
ISRAEL IS developing a conventional cruise missile derivative of a long-range unmanned air vehicle (UAV) aimed at the requirement of an unspecified Asian customer. Sources close to the project claim that TAAS (formerly Israel Military Industries) has a funded programme under way to adapt its Delilah decoy UAV ...
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RAF to lose WE177
THE ROYAL AIR FORCE will lose its nuclear capability in 1998, nine years earlier than planned, with the withdrawal of the WE177 tactical free-fall nuclear bomb. The bomb is being replaced by a variant of the submarine-launched Trident missile to give the Royal Navy what the UK Government ...
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Pilot Faces Gaol
A former FedEx pilot who attacked one of the carrier's crews in a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 in the cruise has been found guilty of air piracy and faces a 20-year gaol term. A jury rejected the insanity defence of Auburn Calloway who used hammers, a knife and a spear gun ...
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Coming together
In a hangar in Marietta, Georgia, the prototype Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 air-superiority fighter stands amid an impressive array of sample parts and prototype components ranging from avionics connectors to fuselage bulkheads. "We were not talking viewgraphs," says F-22 programme general-manager Gary Riley, referring to the critical design-review (CDR), ...
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Export Gripen will hit market by 2000
SAAB IS AIMING to produce export versions of its JAS39 Gripen multi-role fighter before the turn of the century. According to Saab Military Aircraft vice-president of production and deputy general manager Ragnar Hellstadius, the Swedish company plans to adapt the aircraft to export standards. It will do so ...
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French forces ponder Israeli Hunter purchase
THE FRENCH ARMY is in negotiations with Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) to purchase its Hunter short-range reconnaissance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) for evaluation. The French army has an immediate requirement for five short-range systems. The system could be deployed in Bosnia in support of French operations in the ...
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LEAP fails to rise to the occasion in USNavy tests
A LIGHTWEIGHT Exo-atmospheric Projectile (LEAP) prototype has failed for the second time in succession to intercept a theatre ballistic-missile target during US Navy tests. The latest trial involved a Rockwell-built weapon. The LEAP, mounted on a Hughes Standard Missile, was launched on 28 March from a US Navy ...