All Helicopters articles – Page 451
-
News
A new conflict
The spat between the USA and South Africa over the former's ambition to bid for the latter's fighter and helicopter requirements, and therefore have hooks in South African military technology and its export, has the veneer of the old East/West conflict. For many, it merely presages the rumblings of conflicts ...
-
News
Racal using DC-3 for Searchwater 2000 radar tests
Common processing and system elements of Racal's Searchwater 2000 maritime reconnaissance (MR) and airborne early warning (AEW)radars are undergoing a series of over-sea tests, fitted under the nose of a Douglas DC-3 leased from Air Atlantique of Coventry. The MR variant is for the British Aerospace Nimrod 2000 replacement maritime ...
-
News
Malaysia postpones AEW procurement for five years
Aircraft manufacturers lining up to meet Malaysia's airborne early warning (AEW) requirement are anticipating a delay of up to five years because of Asia's continuing economic crisis. Malaysia cut its defence budget by 10% after its currency plunged against the US dollar, although defence minister Syed Hamid Albar says ...
-
News
Japan considers SARV-22 tiltrotor
Japan's Defence forces and its Maritime Safety Agency (MSA) are showing growing interest in a search and rescue (SAR) version of the V-22 Osprey, which Bell and Boeing are promoting as one of several future military variants of the tiltrotor. Japan has opened tentative discussions with Bell Boeing on ...
-
News
Hornets nest
Paul Lewis/BANGKOK New jobs inevitably entail fresh challenges and the position of commander in chief of the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) is certainly no exception. Air Chief Marshal Tananit Niamtan reached the pinnacle of his 27 year air force career in October 1997, just as Thailand's economy was diving ...
-
News
Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman respond
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have issued an official response to the US Government's anti-trust complaints against their proposed merger, arguing that the deal is necessary if they are to compete with Boeing in military aircraft and Raytheon in defence electronics. The complaint was filed with the court on ...
-
News
German MoD pushes ambitious helicopter and missile wish list
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH The German defence ministry has prepared a lengthy procurement wish-list for the 1999 budget, including key helicopter and missile programmes, but it threatens to overload the parliamentary defence committee's ability to pass all the items this session. According to sources in Bonn, it seems likely that ...
-
News
Partners re-arrange KTX-II schedule after budget cuts
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Samsung Aerospace and partner Lockheed Martin are examining ways of re-arranging KTX-II development work and funding schedules, in the wake of the South Korean Government's decision to slash the programme's first year budget. The new administration of recently inaugurated President Kim Dae Jung has halved the ...
-
News
An-70 bid for FLA nears an end
Douglas Barrie/LONDON Julian Moxon/PARIS European Future Large Aircraft (FLA) partners are to meet early next month to discuss the outcome of a critical study into considering the Antonov An-70 as an FLA candidate. The study, which is widely expected to reject the An-70 as a serious contender, is almost ...
-
News
Bell strikes at S America
Graham Warwick/SANTIAGO Bell has begun marketing a variant of the AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopter configured for reconnaissance and armed escort. The "multi-mission" MH-1W is aimed principally at Latin America, where there is growing demand for armed helicopters to support anti-drug and counter-insurgency operations. The US manufacturer argues that the MH-1W ...
-
News
C-27J emerges as possible AEW platform
Lockheed Martin has looked at the feasibility of installing Ericsson's Erieye airborne early warning (AEW) radar on the upgraded C-27J transport, under development with Alenia. A version of the C-27J could be offered as a smaller alternative to the AEW variant of Lockheed Martin's C-130J Hercules 2. The C-130J ...
-
News
V-22 award
The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey joint venture has been awarded a $419 million contract from the US Navy to begin low rate initial production of five MV-22 tiltrotor transports for the US Marine Corps. The contractor team was also awarded $59 million to provide long-lead items for a further seven ...
-
News
RAF tries to trade Tornados and Harriers to salvage Jaguar fleet
Douglas Barrie/London The Royal Air Force has told the UK Government that it will sacrifice Panavia Tornado GR1, Tornado F3, and British Aerospace Harrier GR7 aircraft to prevent the Sepecat Jaguar being axed. In arguing its corner within the ongoing Strategic Defence Review (SDR), the RAF is battling to keep ...
-
News
In position at last?
A dose of reality does the global positioning system no harm in the long term Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Anyone observing events surrounding the global positioning system (GPS) over the past few months would be forgiven for believing that European scepticism about the system has been justified. But Europe's reluctance ...
-
News
US Coast Guard starts replacement programme
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The USCoast Guard has launched a programme to replace its fleets of aircraft and surface vessels. A request for proposals for the Integrated Deepwater System programme was released in March, and up to three teams will be awarded concept development contracts in July. The Coast ...
-
News
Egyptian Stinger
The US Department of Defense plans to sell Egypt more than 1,000 Stinger air defence missiles and 50 Avenger air defence systems, plus related equipment and training worth an estimated $304 million. The Pentagon says that the missiles will be configured only for firing from the High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled ...
-
News
Thais finalise F- 5 upgrade plan
Paul lewis/Singapore The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) is to finalise a contract with Elbit Systems to upgrade its fleet of Northrop F-5E/Fs, in anticipation that funding for the programme will now become available following the recent cancellation of a planned Boeing F/A-18C/D purchase. Thailand selected the Israeli ...
-
News
Cost explosion threatens plan to upgrade German Lynx fleet
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Germany's planned upgrade of its navy's fleet of 17 GKN Westland Sea Lynx Mk 88 helicopters is being threatened by soaring costs, with the price rising by 110% above original estimates. The defence ministry is refusing to accept the price rise, driven by an increase in ...
-
News
USA launches advanced rotor systems research
Advanced helicopter rotor systems are to be developed for existing and future US military rotorcraft in the Helicopter Active Control Technology (HACT) programme launched by the US Army late last month. The US Army says that the overall objective of the project is to develop and demonstrate an active, digital, ...
-
News
USAF tests new tactics in EFX '98
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Air Force will explore new fighting concepts, including the use of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) for tactical missions, during the Expeditionary Force Experiment '98 due to take place in September. The experiment will cost an estimated $40 million to conduct. While military exercises ...