All Helicopters articles – Page 432
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Strike spearheads
Strike aircraft are still the teeth of any air campaign, but investment in training, as well as assets, is crucial Stewart Penney/RAF MARHAM & RAF WITTERING During the past decade, fighters have flown into harm's way over Iraq and Yugoslavia almost daily to ram home the international community's determination ...
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Mission possible
EW aircraft, tankers and AWACS turn the impossible into the achievable Stewart Penney/RAF Brize Norton & RAF Waddington DeeDee Doke/Aviano AB & RAF Mildenhall Missions over Iraqi and Yugoslavia would not be possible without force multipliers such as the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), electronic warfare (EW) assets ...
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Lean stories
Boeing has chosen CATIA as its chief design tool and rival Lockheed Martin's production streamlining is paying off Graham Warwick/MARIETTA and FORT WORTH Guy Norris/SEATTLEThe aerospace industry is in the grip of a revolution. Its name is "lean" and its guiding principle is the elimination of waste from the ...
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Force of the future - Dominant factor
Air power has come of age, says the recently retired head of the USAF's warfighting arm Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Gen Richard Hawley (left), commander of the US Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC) during the recent conflicts in the Gulf and the Balkans, sees no technological development on ...
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Light Defender deal signed
Israel Military Industries (IMI) and Lockheed Martin have signed a deal to develop jointly the Light Defender stand-off weapon. The move follows the collapse of talks between Boeing and IMI earlier this year (Flight International, 26 May-1 June). Lockheed Martin has significant offset commitments to Israeli defence companies related ...
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Lockheed Martin loses spy satellite order to Boeing
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which controls the USA's network of advanced spy satellites, has picked Boeing over incumbent Lockheed Martin to build the nation's next generation of reconnaissance-imagery spacecraft. The so-called Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) contract, which is estimated to be worth as much as $5 billion, is ...
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Trainer role for baby Bell
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DCThe US Marine Corps is drafting a mission needs statement for a military trainer variant of the BA609 civil tiltrotor, in the first formal step towards an expected joint programme with the US Air Force. Following the USMC needs statement, the next step will be the drafting of ...
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Embraer to develop armed RJ-145 jet
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Embraer plans to develop an armed maritime patrol (MPA) version of its RJ-145 regional jet on the back of an expected launch order from the Mexico for six aircraft. The proposed EMB-145 MPA would be closely modelled on the modified airframe of the remote sensing ...
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Force of the future - The first option
The RAF has adopted the role of an expeditionary air force Stewart Penney/LONDON Air power will nearly always be the first option for governments that want to apply pressure to truculent regimes. Recent experience, particularly over the Balkans, has underlined that, according to Royal Air Force Chief of the ...
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Packing punch
Air power is the key to modern warfare, but it could be used differently, believes the US commander of the Kosovo air campaign DeeDee Doke/AVIANO AB As US Air Force Lt Gen Mike Short launched his command of the air campaign over Kosovo last March, he expected to ...
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Merger Mania
The Top 100 aerospace ranking, compiled by Flight International and leading industry experts IPG Consulting, shows an industry in the grip of consolidation. But how long will merger-mania hold sway - and what comes next? Chris Jasper/LONDON The aerospace industry, conventional wisdom would have it, is in less than ...
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Boeing and Northrop set up F/A-18 centre
Boeing and Northrop Grumman have taken further advantage of US military base closures to establish a joint F/A-18 Hornet modification and overhaul operation at the US Navy's soon to be vacated Cecil Field naval air station in Florida. The two companies are among a number of tenants to have ...
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Lack of orders may close AGM-130 line
The US Air Force is improving its Boeing AGM-130-powered stand-off weapon successfully used during Operation Allied Force, but has no plans to replace the examples used against Yugoslav forces, according to Frank Robbins, head of USAF precision strike weapons. He says enough AGM-130s are in the production process to satisfy ...
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Popeye fails in Kosovo, but wins S Korean order
South Korea has completed plans to procure 100 AGM-142 stand-off missiles, even as news is emerging of the air-launched stand-off missile's failure to hit targets in their debut during the Kosovo air campaign. US Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers forward based in the UK employed the AGM-142 during ...
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UK wants more Sentry mission consoles
The UK Royal Air Force's experience during Operation Allied Force over Kosovo has confirmed a requirement to increase the number of mission consoles in its Boeing E-3D Sentry AEW1s from nine to 14. A need to install additional radios on the airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft has also ...
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Shaped to compete
Consolidation has shaped the US military aircraft industry for the challenges of the next decade Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DCReshaped by the consolidation of recent years, US military aircraft manufacturers are undergoing another transition as programmes that have sustained the industry for decades reach the end of their lives. With fewer new ...
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Algeria seeks maritime patrol aircraft
Stewart Penney/LONDON Algeria has an emerging requirement for up to 12 maritime surveillance aircraft. Political considerations mean the North African country could request bids only from European countries. The requirement could be met by a medium twin-turboprop, with ATR, British Aerospace and Casa among the likely bidders. Algeria - ...
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Pentagon to draw up export rules for AEW&C technology
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The US Department of Defense (DoD) has launched a review of airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) technology with the aim of establishing export guidelines. The move follows Flight International's report that the DoD is reviewing whether the information provided by Boeing to Australia as ...
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AIDC still aims for privatisation
Andrzej Jeziorski/TAIPEI State-owned Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) of Taiwan is to offer small stakes to potential investors in a bid to kick-start its privatisation, which it still hopes to complete this year. The company wants to sell up to 40% of its stock to a foreign strategic investor, ...