All Helicopters articles – Page 472
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News
Poland resurrects support for Iryda
AFTER STOPPING Polish defence ministry plans to buy about 40 secondhand Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jets from Germany, the Warsaw Government has redirected funds for the deal to support the PZL-Mielec Iryda jet trainer programme. According to PZL-Mielec, three new Irydas in the M-93K configuration, are now expected to be ...
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Defence
Douglas Barrie/Defence Editor EUROPE'S CLUTCH OF NEW-generation fighter-aircraft programmes had less than a vintage year in 1995. Dassault's Rafale and the Eurofighter EF2000 have struggled with both technical and political concerns, while only the Saab Gripen, it seems, had a better year. Dassault starts 1996 ...
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Aerospace Industry
Kevin O'Toole/Business Editor LAST YEAR'S FORECAST for the aerospace industry predicted a further round of consolidation in 1995 on both sides of the Atlantic. The prediction for 1996 is disappointingly similar. If there is a new variation, then it may be that more of the ...
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USAF considers radar upgrades
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES A MAJOR UPGRADE OF front-line fighter radar with active-radar arrays is being evaluated by the US Air Force. A prototype system could be ready for tests by 1998. Initial contracts have been issued to Hughes and Westinghouse under the radar-system aperture-technology effort ...
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Combative markets
The combat aircraft market is estimated to be worth some $88 billion over the next decade. Douglas Barrie/LONDON WHILE MANUFACTURERS in the traditional combat-aircraft producing nations have been forced to take serious stock of the changed world in which they operate, their home countries have ...
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UK AWACS upgrade
The Pentagon intends to sell the UK radar-improvement kits for installation in Boeing E-3D airborne-warning-and-control-system (AWACS) aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force. The seven US Air Force/NATO Radar System Improvement Programme (RSIP) modifications kits, system integration, ground/ flight testing of the RSIP hardware and related equipment will cost the ...
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Japanese to make military cuts
JAPAN'S GOVERNMENT has announced cuts in the size of its military forces as part of its long-awaited post-Cold War defence-policy review. The National Defence Programme Outline, or White Paper, is the first to be published since 1976. It calls for reductions to be made by all three services. ...
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Osprey tilts the balance
A leaner, cheaper, V-22 tilt-rotor is taking shape, thanks to advances in manufacturing technology. Graham Warwick/FORT WORTH MAJOR PIECES OF THE FIRST production-representative V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor are coming together at Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing Helicopters, and confidence is growing that the dramatic cost and weight reductions achieved ...
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FedEx moves to limit effects of pilots' action
US EXPRESS-PACKAGE carrier FedEx has wet-leased seven Boeing 727-200F freighters from Express One International, as a contingency in case industrial action by its pilots disrupts services in the build-up to the busy Christmas season. FedEx pilots stopped flying on their days off after contract talks with the carrier broke down ...
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Re-engineing RAF Nimrods powers BAe's RMPA bid
Douglas Barrie/LONDON BRITISH AEROSPACE IS offering to re-engine the Royal Air Force's fleet of Nimrod MR2s with the BMW Rolls-Royce BR710 turbofan in its bid to meet the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD) £2 billion ($3.1 billion) replacement maritime-patrol-aircraft (RMPA) requirement. The BR710s would replace ...
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Italy to buy early-warning aircraft
Andrea Spinelli/GENOA The Italian air force is to procure at least two airborne early-warning (AEW) aircraft by 2007, according to the defence ministry's so-called White Book which spells out projected defence procurement and expenditure over the next decade. The paper, Il Modello di difesa, was prepared ...
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A310 finds favour in Israel
Airbus Industrie's A310 has emerged as the preferred non-US platform for future Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) airborne early-warning (AEW) and aerial-refueling aircraft. The Bedek division of IAI is already negotiating with Airbus about the transfer of engineering data required for the conversion of the wide body civil aircraft ...
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Scandal jeopardises Raytheon's $1.4 billion Brazilian contract
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA RAYTHEON'S $1.4 BILLION contract for the SIVAM Amazon surveillance system is being jeopardised by an influence-peddling scandal, which has forced the resignations of Brazil's aeronautics minister and a presidential aide. The companies interim contract has been renewed by the Brazilian Government while a ...
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UAE could be persuaded to take Enforcer
THE CASA CN-235 Persuader and Fokker Maritime Enforcer Mk2 are emerging as the front runners competing for the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) soon-to-be-decided order for new a maritime-patrol aircraft (MPA). The UAE air force is seeking four aircraft for MPA missions, including anti-submarine warfare and surface strike. The ...
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Hawkeye leads surveillance interest among Gulf States
NORTHROP GRUMMAN is proposing that the Gulf Collaboration Council (GCC) states collectively purchase and operate a combined standing force of its E-2C Hawkeye airborne-early-warning (AEW) aircraft, to provide additional AEW support in the region. GCC states, which include the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain, all have draft ...
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Boeing/MDC talks raise pressure for Airbus rethink
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES REPORTS THAT Boeing and McDonnell Douglas are exploring options for a mega-merger have raised pressure on the Airbus partners to accelerate their own sluggish restructuring efforts. The Boeing-MDC talks came to light in a report in the Wall Street ...
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Competitors wait for Pentagon move on tactical air vehicle
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON, DC THE FATE OF the US Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) programme is to be decided on 22 November by Paul Kaminiski, the US Department of Defense's acquisition chief. If he approves a formal request for proposals for an advanced- concept technology-demonstration project, ...
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India looks abroad for AEW
THE FUTURE OF INDIA'S long-running airborne-early-warning (AEW) aircraft programme has been thrown into doubt, with the defence ministry looking at off-the-shelf alternatives. India has test flown an aerodynamic AEW test-bed, mounting a German-produced rotodome shell on a Hawker Siddeley HS.748, but the successful development and integration of ...
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Tilt at market
Bell Helicopters and Boeing are conducting design and feasibility studies into a civil tilt-rotor aircraft capable of carrying up to 11 people. The study on a vehicle known as the D600 follows work completed by the two companies on the military V-22 Osprey. The work could be completed by the ...
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Japan plans timetable for P-3C Orion replacement
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE THE JAPAN DEFENCE Agency (JDA) wants to launch development of a new maritime-patrol aircraft (MPA) by 2000, with an in-service date of 2008, as a replacement for its Kawasaki-built Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion anti-submarine-warfare aircraft. Provisional planning calls for full-scale development to start ...