All Helicopters articles – Page 455
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Bell Boeing 609
Sales of the Bell Boeing Model 609 civil tilt-rotor are ahead of expectations, with deposits received for more than 40 aircraft so far. "The order rate is beyond what we hoped for this early," says marketing chief Ron Reber. "We are overwhelmed by the response." The $8-10 million pricetag ...
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AIDC and Latecoere team to bid for Airbus contracts
Taiwan has signed an agreement with Latecoere of France to team with Aerospace Industrial Development (AIDC) to bid for Airbus A340-500/600 work. It also expects to start subcontracting to Boeing shortly, as part of a move to reduce the company's reliance on military work. Under a memorandum of understanding ...
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From strength to strength
Peter Henley/MARIETTA The C-130 Hercules has been in service with military and commercial operators around the world since the 1950s. Demand for the type has been such that it has stayed in production throughout that period. It has appeared in various guises since the original A model. The major ...
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Airjet cancellation sparks reactions
Julian Moxon/Paris Aero International (Regional)'s (AI(R)) decision to cancel the Airjet 70 regional jet programme has had considerable fall-out in other sectors of the industry, with French-engine builder Snecma saying that it is pulling out of a deal with Pratt & Whitney Canada to develop the SPW14 engine selected ...
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Poland threatens to cancel Huzar tender
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH The new Solidarity Government in Poland is threatening to cancel the controversial avionics and weapons tender for the planned PZL-Swidnik Huzar battlefield helicopter. Programme sources say that the current tender could be dropped if no compromise agreement is reached between Boeing, which is offering an international ...
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Project Wedgetail contracts awarded
Three consortia, led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon E-Systems, have been awarded long-awaited initial-design-activity (IDA) contracts for Project Wedgetail, Australia's competition for an airborne early-warning-and-control-system (AWACS) aircraft. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is expected to pick the Project Wedgetail winner before the end of 1998, and award ...
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USAF receives E-8
The US Air Force will achieve the initial operational capability for the Northrop Grumman Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) this month. The initial fielding landmark was made possible after the US aerospace firm delivered the third production JSTARS aircraft to the USAF in November. Although not yet "operational", ...
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VTOL contracts loom as CL-327 UAV flies
The US Navy is expected soon to select the unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) for its vertical- take-off-and-landing (VTOL) demonstration, following the successful first flight of one of its prime candidates for the programme. The UAV Joint Programme Office "is reviewing the bids and is close to awarding a contract ...
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Enaer plans to fly Chilean 707 tanker/AEW in 1998
ENAER plans to fly its modified Chilean air force Boeing 707 combined tanker/airborne-early-warning (AEW) aircraft for the first time early in 1998. Modification work, being carried out with the support of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), will see the aircraft fitted with nose- and side-panel-mounted phased-array radars similar to those fitted ...
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Training in private
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Tomorrow's combat pilots could find themselves training in classrooms, in simulators, or even in aircraft bearing a plaque with the legend "Owned and operated by-". Whether the term is "contractise", "privatise" - or, some would complain, compromise - the commercial operation of military training is fast ...
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The right image
Hughes Aircraft is under contract to provide the mid-wavelength staring infra-red imaging system for Kaman Aerospace Super Seasprite helicopters sold to the Royal Australian Navy. The value of the contract was not disclosed. Hughes will provide 11 of the systems, designated the AAQ-27. Deliveries are to begin in 1999 and ...
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CH-60 completes first shipboard deployment
The Sikorsky Aircraft CH-60 fleet-combat-support helicopter has successfully completed its first shipboard deployment in the Atlantic as part of a US Navy test programme to demonstrate that it has enough performance for the required missions. The CH-60 combines features of the US Army's UH-60 Black Hawk and the USN's ...
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Secure communications
Tim Furniss/RAF OAKHANGER Matra Marconi Space (MMS) of Stevenage, UK, is completing production of the first of three uprated Skynet 4 UK-dedicated military-communications satellites, which are to be launched on a Boeing Delta booster from Cape Canaveral in January 1998. The Skynet 4D will be followed by crafts ...
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GEC-Marconi sets its sights on Kuwaiti AH-64 orders
Kuwait has become the main target for GEC-Marconi Avionics in its bid to secure export orders for its Helicopter Integrated Defensive Aids System (HIDAS) following a contract from the British Army to fit the equipment on its Boeing WAH-64 Apache attack helicopter. The UK Ministry of Defence signed the ...
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Saudi air force may add on 25 more F-15s to Boeing order
The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) has begun preliminary discussions with Boeing over the acquisition of as many as 25 F-15Ss to complement the 72 it already has on order. The RSAF has asked for "pricing and availability data" on the two-seat variant of the F-15. The purchase would ...
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Regional pool plan for Globemasters mooted
Mike Martin Could small fleets of Boeing C-17 Globemaster aircraft be operated on a pool basis in Europe and even the Middle East one day? "It's a great idea," says Stuart Thomson, Boeing's business development vice-president, Military Transport, at the show. "Nobody (at Boeing) ...
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Procurement puzzle
Douglas Barrie/LONDON It is a case of in one door and out the other as far as the aspirations of Northrop Grumman and the US Government of selling Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) technology into Europe are concerned - back into the UK, but out of ...
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Re-engined KC/RCS
The US Air Force has awarded Boeing a $64.8 million contract to re-engine a further eight RC/KC-135s with CFM International CFM56 turbofans. Two of the four KC-135 refuelling tankers included in the contract are Republic of Singapore Air Force aircraft which will be converted under a foreign-military-sales deal. The remaining ...
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USAF abandons winner-take-all EELV approach
The US Air Force has changed its procurement method for its next-generation Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV), abandoning its previous winner take-all approach in favour of a rolling batch-procurement competition. Lockheed Martin and Boeing had been competing in a winner-take-all competition for a $1.6 billion engineering and manufacturing ...
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GEC-Marconi hopes to seal Argus 2000 radar deal with China
GEC-Marconi is to open commercial negotiations with China to supply the Argus 2000 airborne-early-warning (AEW) radar. This follows agreement with Ilyushin and British Aerospace on integrating the system into the Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft. The UK manufacturer is understood to be about to begin contractual talks with the ...