Helicopters – Page 455
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One of the family
Peter Henley/TOULOUSE Airbus Industrie views its present commercial success - 1997 was its best ever year, with 671 sales and commitments worth $44.2 billion, 15 new customers, new derivatives launched, 182 aircraft delivered and a turnover of $11.6 billion - as a resounding endorsement of its family policy. This has ...
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Pathfinder quest
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US military may have cooled to the concept of solar electric powered unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), but NASA has set new lofty goals for the emerging long endurance UAV. In 1993, the US Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) envisioned deploying Raptor (Responsive Aircraft Programme for Theatre ...
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LHTEC stays on schedule to produce T800 for US Army
LHTEC is on schedule to start T800 turboshaft production in 2000 to support the US Army's UH-1H re-engine programme. The first two engines are "on contract and in production" for the initial qualification phase at Fort Rucker, Alabama, says Fred Dickens, T800 business development director for the AlliedSignal/ Allison ...
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Singapore is first non-NATO state to be cleared for US datalink
Singapore has become the first non-NATO country cleared to receive the US-developed Link 16 tactical datalink. Industry sources say that the US Navy pushed through the approval, citing the need for interoperability with the USA's major ally in the Asia-Pacific region. Singapore plans to acquire datalink terminals for its ...
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Finance remains last hurdle for Rooivalk in Malaysia
Paul Derby Denel is optimistic that negotiations with the Malaysian government over the provision of eight Rooivalk attack helicopters will re-open by mid-year. The potential deal is on hold because of Malaysia's current economic problems, but both parties say that the decision to buy has been made and that it ...
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Textron decision on buying Boeing helicopters looms
Paul Derby A decision should be made in a matter of days on whether Bell Helicopter Textron's proposal to buy Boeing's commercial helicopter business will get the green light. Bell executives confirm evaluation of the business is almost complete. President and CEO Terry Stinson told delegates at last week's Heli-Expo ...
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Airshow organiser sees silver lining in cloud of economic crisis
Mike Martin The economic difficulties of the Asia-Pacific region are a short-term challenge that offers the region an opportunity to take stock and re-emerge as an even stronger market for the long term, Clive Richardson, Asian Aerospace international sales and marketing director, said yesterday. Speaking at the organisers' press conference, ...
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Defence spending cuts viewed as short-term
Tim Ripley Huge cuts in Asia-Pacific defence spending are temporary phenomena which will not affect the region's good long-term prospects, say market analysts and corporate sources. Overall defence cuts of up to 25%, and larger cuts in overseas purchases because of regional currency crashes, have resulted in a ...
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USAF military 757 makes first flight at Renton
The first of four military Boeing 757s, designated C-32A, made its maiden flight from the company's Renton site on 11 February. The first aircraft, NP901, landed at nearby Boeing Field after a 2h test flight. Unlike previous military transports built for the US Air Force, the C-32As are being ...
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Partners poised to restart X-31 VECTOR
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Industrial partners in the tri-national X-31 VECTOR research programme expect the signature in March of an inter-government memorandum of understanding (MoU) signalling the restart of the successful thrust vectoring work. Following the approval of the US portion of the programme's funding in mid-January, similar clearance is expected from ...
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P&W prepares for first JSF engine tests
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Pratt & Whitney plans to begin test runs of the first two Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) engines in the "April-May timeframe" and will begin initial tests of the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variants in the third quarter of this year. The first two ...
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Future fighter needs
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Fighter pilots have long jested that Singapore measures only four minutes by four minutes in terms of flying time. The island's diminutive size, however, belies its strategic importance. Situated at the tip of the Malaysian peninsular Singapore occupies an economic and geographic crossroads between the Eastern and Western ...
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Boeing to sell civil helicopters
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Boeing has taken a strategic decision to leave the commercial helicopter market, which will lead to the disposal of the business it acquired through its merger with McDonnell Douglas, along with the transfer of its 49% stake in the Bell Boeing 609 civil tilt rotor to ...
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V-22 delivered
The last of four production-representative Bell Boeing V-22s has been delivered to the US Navy's Patuxent River, Maryland, test centre, for avionics testing and operational evaluation. Source: Flight International
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Defence units expect to evade Boeing axe
Boeing's space and defence businesses will escape major changes when post-merger consolidation plans are revealed later this month, says Alan Mulally, president of Boeing Information, Space and Defense Systems (ISDS). "There is not much overlap" in products or manufacturing between the Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Rockwell businesses which now make ...
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Pentagon seeks more money for weapons
The US Department of Defense wants to spend $257.3 billion during fiscal year 1999, according to budget figures presented to Congress. The request is $2.4 billion more than the US Congress allowed the Pentagon for FY1998 weapons spending. There are no surprises in the budget submission, which includes ...
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CFM pushes commonality in USAF re-engine bid
CFM International (CFMI) is stressing fleet-commonality benefits to the US Air Force in its bid to re-engine almost 200 Boeing KC-135E, RC-135, E-3 and Northrop Grumman E-8 aircraft. The company's response to the USAF's request for an "alternate propulsion-system assessment" will be complete in the "March-April timeframe", according to ...
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Shake, rattle and roll
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC With deployment of the Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche not due until the next century, and a conceptual Joint Transport Rotorcraft (JTR) available no earlier than 2015, the US Army and various defence contractors are working to improve the safety, comfort and performance of current-generation military rotorcraft. For ...
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US giants digest their mergers
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON After five years of breakneck consolidation, positions are firming up at the top of the US aerospace league, but attention now turns to digesting the latest, and probably last, series of mergers and acquisitions. With the 1997 round of annual financial results, Boeing reclaims its position at the ...
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US Navy eyes unmanned aircraft for utility role
Douglas Barrie/LONDON A vertical take-off and landing support unmanned air vehicle (SUAV) is being pushed as an alternative to a crewed design for the US Navy's future carrier-borne utility aircraft. The USN's Common Support Aircraft (CSA) programme is intended to determine a successor to Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye ...