Helicopters – Page 458
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JSF prognostics system may replace maintenance checks
Lockheed Martin is to test predictive-maintenance technology planned for its Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) under a $6.5 million prognostics and health-management (PHM) demonstration contract. The company will demonstrate a proof-of-concept prototype of the PHM subsystem planned for its production JSF, while Boeing is negotiating a similar contract to ...
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Kaman eyes H-2 for new Australia bid
Graham Warwick/BLOOMFIELD Kaman Aerospace plans to offer an armed-reconnaissance version of its SH-2G Super Seasprite shipborne helicopter for Australia's Air 87 requirement, if the country's defence force decides to acquire a multi-role machine rather than a dedicated attack helicopter - a choice expected to be made later this ...
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War in the financial dimension
The Royal Air Force faces one of its biggest battles as the UK Government finalises another defence review Douglas Barrie/LONDON What do politicians do when they finish one defence review? They start another one. The UK's armed forces are now bracing themselves for the outcome of what is ...
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Lockheed Martin outlines air-mobility
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Lockheed Martin believes that next-generation military-transport aircraft will use commercial engine and cockpit technology, but will require unique features precluding the adaptation of civil-freighter designs. The next military transport will have to be produced for around the same $100 million price tag as ...
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Turkey eyes Phalcon for AEW requirement
The Turkish air force has evaluated the Elta Phalcon airborne-early-warning (AEW) aircraft, and has asked for detailed proposals for the purchase of up to four aircraft. The service has been briefed on the Phalcon and, according to some Israeli sources, it had a chance to evaluate its capabilities ...
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Clinton veto scuttles ASAT/SR-71
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and the development of a kinetic-energy anti-satellite (KE-ASAT) kill vehicle (KKV) have fallen foul of US President Clinton, who used the "line-item veto" to scrap funding for both. The funds were cut as Clinton revised the $248 billion fiscal year 1998 defence spending bill. ...
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Lockheed Martin resumes European airlifter campaign
US Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin is redoubling its efforts to forge a transatlantic military-transport partnership in the wake of Germany's shock move in proposing the Antonov An-70 as the basis of the Future Large Aircraft (FLA) (Flight International, 15-21 October). Senior Lockheed Martin officials believe that Germany's advocacy ...
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US military starts Huey re-engine project
The US Army National Guard has initiated the long-awaited programme to re-engine 131 ageing Bell Helicopter UH-1 light utility helicopters with Light Helicopter Turbine Engine (LHTEC) T800 turboshafts. The initial engine certification work, which covers the installation of LHTEC CTS800-54 engines in two UH-1s, will be paid for ...
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German move destablises FLA
Germany has dealt the credibility of the European Future Large Aircraft programme a considerable blow by demanding that the Ukrainian Antonov An-70 transport be re-examined as the basis for a collaborative project with Airbus Industrie. Volker Rühe, the German defence minister, is pushing for the An-70 to be ...
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Persistent ambitions
Unmanned combat-aircraft are coming, but they will not be going into battle any time in the too-near future. Harsh lessons learned developing relatively simple and inexpensive unmanned air-vehicles (UAVs) have made manufacturers and operators alike extremely cautious in planning the introduction of more costly and sophisticated uninhabited combat air-vehicles (UCAVs). ...
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Stand back
Third time lucky? That would appear to be the case when it comes to the latest US attempt to enter the Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (J-STARS) in the UK's Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) competition. Having been kicked out on two previous occasions, some transatlantic political ...
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USAF considers DC-X and X-33 for military-spaceplane testing
Boeing and Lockheed Martin have received US Air Force contracts to begin developing technologies and concepts for a military spaceplane. The Integrated Technology Testbed programme is aimed at demonstrating military-spaceplane operational concepts early next century. Boeing's demonstrator concept uses a re-usable rapid-response launch vehicle, derived from ...
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J-STARS pitched back into ASTOR battle
Douglas Barrie/LONDON The UK is to reconsider the Northrop Grumman Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (J-STARS) to meet its Airborne Stand-off Radar System (ASTOR) requirement, following a political deal hammered out in September. The E-8 J-STARS bid was eliminated from the UK competition on technical ...
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Saab sets its jet deadline
Saab's days as a turboprop manufacturer are numbered, with the Swedish company working to an early 1998 deadline to join one of two regional jet programmes. Gert Schyborger, Saab Aircraft's president, confirms that the struggling 2000 programme will be the company's last turboprop venture and says he will ...
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Tilt-rotor licences
The first civil powered-lift pilot ratings have been awarded by the US Federal Aviation Administration to test pilots flying the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey military tilt-rotor. Source: Flight International
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European navies worry about Harrier arms
Andrea Spinelli/GENOA Italian and Spanish navies are voicing increasing concern over the weapons for their Boeing AV-8B Harrier II Plus aircraft. Friction with the US Marine Corps is starting to rise as differing priorities between the programme partners are becoming increasingly apparent. Overtures from ...
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Expanded Helitech
Opening times Helitech '97 will be open on Tuesday, 30 September-Thursday, 2 October: 09.30-18.00; and Friday, 3 October: Kate Sarsfield/London The 7th International Helicopter Technology and Operations Exhibition (Helitech) will host a helicopter industry leaner and more optimistic than it has been in recent ...
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'Hypercomputing' may revolutionise aircraft design
Ian Sheppard/LONDON Massively parallel computing, or "hypercomputing", methods which are expected to revolutionise the design of future aircraft and missiles, including the next-generation high-speed civil transport (HSCT) and the US Tomahawk land-attack-missile replacement, are now being developed. NASA's Conceptual Design of Air Vehicles Hypercomputing and Design ...
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Greek fighter force
Rene van Woezik/Athens While recent Greek interest in the Boeing F-15 Eagle and Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker may have caught the eye, the core of its air force's combat fleet into the first decade of the next century will be built around the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D, deliveries of which ...
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Lockheed Martin offers Boeing support
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Lockheed Martin is talking to Boeing about a partnership under which it would support the latter's commercial aircraft at its maintenance centres around the world. Aeronautics sector president Micky Blackwell says that Lockheed Martin wants to expand on soon-to-be-acquired Northrop Grumman's role as ...