All Helicopters articles – Page 432
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JSF TO dominate fighter/ attack aircraft market
Alan Dron The long-term future in the fighter/attack aircraft market belongs to the United States, providing the Joint Strike Fighter project (JSF) goes ahead, predicts a report issued at Asian Aerospace today. Europe's military aircraft manufacturers will enjoy an upturn over the coming decade, but if the JSF ...
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US report on Kosovo points out NATO shortcomings
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC The US Department of Defense's report to Congress on its performance in Kosovo's Operation Allied Force has identified the need for improvements in critical areas, including NATO alliance capabilities, command and control (C2), intelligence gathering, precision strike and air defence suppression. The report re-emphasises the ...
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Defence renaissance
The world's defence manufacturers are again identifying the Asia-Pacific as a major market Stewart Penney/LONDONBy common consensus, the worst effects of the Asian economic crisis have passed and the nations around the Pacific are again considering their defence needs. At the 1998 Asian Aerospace show, the economic crisis generated pessimistic ...
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Northrop Grumman wins USN UAV contest
Northrop Grumman's Ryan Aeronautical Center has been picked to supply the US Navy's next tactical vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle. The system will replace AAI/Israel Aircraft Industry Pioneer fixed-wing UAVs. The Programme Executive Office, Cruise Missiles and UAVs, has awarded Northrop Grumman a $94 million engineering and manufacturing ...
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Broader horizons
Singapore's air force is raising its international profile and cultivating relations with air forces around the world, says defence force chief Gen Bey Soo Khiang Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Former US President Theodore Roosevelt famously based his foreign policy on the principle that one should "speak softly and carry a big stick". ...
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Australia searches for refuelling finance
Peter La Franchi/CANBERRAThe Australian Department of Defence is to launch a formal industry survey process this week to determine whether the Royal Australian Air Force's Project Air 5402 air-to-air refuelling requirement can be met by private financing. The survey, set for release on 18 February, will call for a minimum ...
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AEW on the attack
After solving a sensitive technology transfer issue to clinch Australia's Wedgetail programme, Boeing/Northrop Grumman has Asia in sight Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC On Northrop Grumman's map of prospective customers for airborne warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, only one country is marked as conquered - Australia. Next to fall, the company ...
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Roman legion
If Rome's rule once galvanised the European continent and gave it a sense of purpose, culture and identity, the Italian capital's role in determining the futures of Europe's two emerging aerospace and defence empires is also likely to be a central one. For Rome is being courted by Europe's two ...
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RNZAF faces weapons stocks and readiness headaches
Peter La Franchi/CANBERRA The New Zealand Ministry of Defence has warned the newly elected Labour/Alliance coalition government that the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) is in danger of failing to meet combat readiness targets. A shortfall in weapons stocks and reliability problems with the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk are the ...
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Ministers propose single sky for Europe
Julian Moxon/BRUSSELS A "single European sky" is on the political agenda after a 28 January meeting of transport ministers from the 38 European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) states. The ministers called for a high-level working group to study how to reduce air traffic delays in Europe. The International Air Transport ...
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Australian 'mega-merger' proposed
Australia's Defence, Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) has proposed a domestic "mega-merger" of international defence and aerospace firms operating in the Australian defence market. The proposal has been put to Australian Defence Industries, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Systems, Tenix Defence Systems and Thomson-CSF. All six are being asked to respond ...
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Australia to benefit first as USA offers to change policy
Peter La Franchi/SYDNEY The USA is offering to lift restrictions on technology release to Australia as part of a Department of Defense (DoD) push to establish closer interoperability arrangements with key allies. The move comes at a time when a series of sales have been held up due to ...
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FY2001 US defence budget preview
The US Department of Defense's (DoD) Fiscal Year 2001 budget request was delivered to US lawmakers on 7 February. It includes significant funding for the proposed National Missile Defense (NMD) system, while sustaining production of the Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS). Other priorities ...
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Poland leans towards used F-16s
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Poland is preparing to issue a formal tender for its 60-fighter requirement amid strong indications that the government favours an offer of used Lockheed Martin F-16s from the USA. Industry sources say Poland's finance ministry has informally agreed to allocate $1.5 billion for the purchase. The ...
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US helicopters face growing threat
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Proliferation of anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) and the integration of sensors and processors to low-altitude missile systems are increasing threats to military helicopters. Short-range, man-portable, air-defence missiles, however, remain the primary threat to US helicopters, according to US Army director of foreign intelligence Col Jan Karcz. ...
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JSF selection strategy in doubt
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC US defence acquisition undersecretary Jacques Gansler has ordered a potentially far-reaching review of the Joint Strike Fighter's (JSF) "winner-take-all" selection strategy as part of a wider push to ensure a continuing competitive industrial base. Gansler has given the review 90 days to identify JSF acquisition options and ...
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Northrop Grumman looks at ways to extend AWACS range
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Northrop Grumman plans to demonstrate bistatic-radar airborne early warning to extend the range of the Boeing E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). Using the company's Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle (UAV) as a receive-only platform in a bistatic-radar application would "almost double the ...
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Work begins on US airborne laser
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Boeing Wichita has started the 18-month conversion of a 747-400 freighter into the YAL-1A Airborne Laser (ABL) prototype for the US Air Force. Tests will conclude with firings against simulated theatre ballistic missiles targets in 2003. Laser testing as well as lethality and vulnerability assessments ...
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A400M powerplant rivals begin joint bid discussions
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Julian Moxon/PARIS Rolls-Royce, Snecma and MTU are talking about offering a joint powerplant for the Airbus Military Company (AMC) A400M. Political pressure is forcing the companies to find a way of merging their rival bids. AMC shelved its engine selection for the A400M last July, citing ...
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Australia drops EW project as prelude to defence cuts
Peter La Franchi/CANBERRA Australia has shelved its Project Echidna requirement for an integrated family of electronic warfare (EW) self-protection suites for Australian Defence Force aircraft. The move is included in a review of all defence acquisition projects worth more than A$50 million ($33.3 million). The review, established in mid-December ...