All Helicopters articles – Page 468
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News
QNC completes 707 hushkit tests and prepares DC-8 for flight
QUIET NACELLE (QNC) has completed flight-tests of a Stage 3 hushkit for the Boeing 707, and is awaiting supplemental type-certification (STC). The hushkit was installed on a Pratt & Whitney JT3D-powered US Air Force Boeing WC-135B (the military 707) for acoustic testing at Moses Lake, Washington. Miami-based QNC ...
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UK firms gain most as RAF wins order battle
Douglas Barrie/LONDON THE UK GOVERNMENT has headed off an embarrassing political and military confrontation with a last-minute decision to award three key Royal Air Force contracts, worth almost £4 billion, which were being blocked by the UK Treasury. British Aerospace is the prime beneficiary, winning ...
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Williams proposes JASSM/Darkstar advanced engine
WILLIAMS International hopes to outfit the Lockheed Martin/Boeing DarkStar high-altitude-endurance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) with a more powerful turbofan engine, and to replace Teledyne Continental as the powerplant vendor for the Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile (JASSM). The Walled Lake, Michigan, engine maker is suggesting the Tier III Minus ...
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Forward thrust
The RNZAF has been rationalised, and is moving ahead in an increasingly commercial world Nick Lee-Frampton/WELLINGTON WITH LITTLE MORE than 3,700 people on its payroll, operating seven squadrons and more than 50 aircraft, the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) takes personnel matters seriously. Indeed, Air Vice-Marshal ...
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Sea Launch confirms second customer
THE SEA LAUNCH joint venture headed by Boeing has secured a second major contract for space-launch services. Space Systems/Loral, a unit of Loral Space & Communications, has agreed to purchase five firings from the Sea Launch system, starting in the second half of 1998 and running through to ...
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South Korea compiles shortlist for early-warning fleet
SOUTH KOREA is revising long-standing plans to acquire a fleet of airborne-early-warning (AEW) aircraft, as part of its next five-year mid-term defence plan. Defence observers now expect the South Korean air force to finalise its AEW requirements and issue a request for quotations before the end of ...
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Northrop Grumman to improve AWACS
NORTHROP GRUMMAN'S RECENTLY ACQUIRED Electronic Sensors and Systems division could earn nearly $100 million over the next five years in upgrading the reliability of the APY-1 and -2 radars used on the US Air Force's Boeing E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. Since 1977, the former Westinghouse division, ...
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Israel presses Russia in bid to clear way for China AEW deal
Ari Egozi/TEL AVIV THE ISRAELI Government is pressing Russia to approve the sale of an Ilyushin Il-76 Candid, to allow Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) to conclude a deal to convert the aircraft into a Phalcon radar-equipped airborne early-warning platform for China. A $250 million deal to ...
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RAF considers JTIDS Tornado GR4 update
Douglas Barrie/LONDON THE ROYAL AIR FORCE is studying the possibility of equipping its Panavia Tornado GR4 strike-aircraft with the Joint Tactical Information Distribution Systems (JTIDS) data-communications network. Funding for fitting RAF combat aircraft with the JTIDS so far covers only two squadrons of Tornado F3s, along ...
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Boeing holds tanker talks with Kawasaki
BOEING IS discussing a co-operative tie-up with Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) to offer the 767 tanker/transport multi-mission aircraft to the Japan Defence Agency (JDA). The US manufacturer views Japan as the most likely launch customer for its proposed 767-300 tanker/transport derivative. To secure JDA funding, Boeing wants ...
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Australia funds Seeker trials
Demonstration flights have prompted the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to allocate funds for full evaluation trials of the locally built Seabird Seeker SB7L purpose-built surveillance aircraft (Flight International, 21-27 April, 1993) as part of the ADF's review of battlefield mobility and surveillance capabilities. ADF Director General Force Development ...
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Boeing
Jean Chamberlin has been named programme manager for Boeing Defense & Space Group's Northrop Grumman B-2 activities. She succeeds Mark Sussman, who becomes manager of unmanned-aerial-vehicle programmes. Sussman replaces Richard Alldredge, who becomes chief engineer for the Military Airplanes division. Source: Flight International
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Saab prepares 2000 AEWC windtunnel tests
Andrzej Jeziorski/LINKOPING SAAB AIRCRAFT is about to begin windtunnel tests of an airborne early-warning and control (AEWC) version of its high-speed Saab 2000 turboprop. The aircraft offers better performance and superior command and control capability to that of the current Saab 340 AEW aircraft, the ...
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Boeing offers B-52 re-engineing
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC THE US AIR FORCE'S remaining fleet of Boeing B-52H bombers will be re-engined with Rolls-Royce RB.211 turbofan engines, if the Pentagon accepts an unsolicited offer from Boeing. The bid made to the USAF's Air Logistics Center involves upgrading 94 of the eight-engined ...
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V-22 production
The US Navy has awarded Bell-Boeing a $1.4 billion contract to begin low-rate initial production of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft for the US Marine Corps. The award covers the first lot of four V-22s and holds options for the second and third production lots of five and seven aircraft, ...
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RAF targets its future needs
Andrew Chuter/LONDON THE ROYAL AIR FORCE has outlined a vision of the future where bombs do not go bang, and pilots fly combat aircraft without ever leaving the ground. UK defence officials say that, in some areas, work is starting to get under way which ...
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Japan considers fusing transport/MPA needs
Paul Lewis /TOKYO JAPAN DEFENCE AGENCY (JDA) planners are looking for possible ways to reconcile financially and technically conflicting requirements for the development of new transport and maritime-patrol aircraft (MPAs) The Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) wants to begin development of a replacement for its ...
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USN PC-9 plan
The US Navy plans to buy or lease two Pilatus PC-9 turboprop trainers, "or equivalent aircraft", to use as chase aircraft for the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor flight-test programme. The aircraft will be required for five years beginning in April 1997. The Navy is calling for a level-flight speed ...
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USAF 'broke orders' on CT-43 disaster flight
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC THE US AIR FORCE says that the 3 April Boeing CT-43A flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia, which crashed killing US Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown and 34 others, took place in breach of orders. The airport's, approach procedure had not been approved by ...
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Smiths set for RAF Chinook HUMS contract
David Learmount/LONDON HEALTH AND USAGE monitoring systems (HUMS) are to be fitted to all Royal Air Force Boeing Chinook helicopters during the next three years, and "progressively" to the entire UK military helicopter fleet, according to the winning equipment supplier, Smiths Industries Aerospace. The UK contract ...