Helicopters – Page 471
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US Air Force will upgrade E-4B command posts
US AIR FORCE Boeing E-4B national command-and-control aircraft are to be upgraded to act as airborne operations centres for the US Secretary of Defense. The four modified 747s are to be equipped with a fibre-optic communications "backbone", or local-area network, and UHF and commercial satellite-communications (satcom) capability. The ...
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Dassault aims Atlantic at European MPA tenders
DASSAULT AVIATION is to offer its Atlantic Third Generation (ATL3G) maritime-patrol aircraft (MPA) to the German, Italian and French navies. The three forces, which already operate earlier versions of the Atlantic, require a total of around 50 aircraft between 2005 and 2010. The aircraft, offered as an ...
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Northrop Grumman teams with DASA
Northrop Grumman and Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) have formed a team to produce the E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) should the US system be selected by NATO for its Airborne Ground Surveillance (AGS) programme. NATO is expected to decide by the end of this year ...
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Something old, something new, something borrowed...
With a July decision date, the RAF's Nimrod competition is reaching boiling point. Douglas Barrie/LONDON Graham Warwick/ATLANTA MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO, Hawker Siddeley emerged victorious from the ruck of the Royal Air Force's last maritime-patrol-aircraft (MPA) competition. The surprise winner of Operational Requirement 381 ...
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Lockheed Martin wins top DoD spot
THE MERGED Lockheed Martin has finally overtaken McDonnell Douglas (MDC) as the Pentagon's largest defence contractor, winning $10.5 billion-worth of US military contracts during fiscal year 1995. MDC lost its long-standing lead with only $8 billion. Lockheed Martin took nearly 9% of the contract awards, which totalled $118 ...
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GAO/DoD differ on SEAD future
The US GENERAL Accounting Office (GAO) and the Department of Defense (DoD) are at odds over future US military requirements for suppression of enemy air-defences (SEAD). The investigative arm of the US Congress has recommended postponing retirement of the McDonnell Douglas F-4G Wild Weasel and Grumman EF-111 Raven ...
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Out of the black comes Tacit Blue
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC THE US AIR FORCE has taken the wraps off another of its classified stealth projects with the unveiling of the Tacit Blue technology demonstrator. The Tacit Blue was used to test low-observable technologies eventually used in the Northrop Grumman B-2 bomber and other stealthy ...
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1997 launch planned for MD-11 stretch freighter
Guy Norris/LOSANGELES MCDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) could launch a freighter version of its proposed MD-11 stretch by the end of 1997, as part of a renewed attack on the large-cargo-aircraft market. "We hope to be out in the market with the MD-11 stretch by the second ...
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Reconnaissance Office may get new Darkstar
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Congress may subsidise the cost of building a replacement for the Lockheed Martin/Boeing Tier III Minus Darkstar unmanned air vehicle destroyed on its second flight on 22 April, says US Air Force Gen Kenneth Israel, who heads the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO). ...
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Boeing suspension
New York-based EDO has received a $1.1 million subcontract to support Boeing Defense & Space Group's Military Airplanes division in development of new weapon-suspension and -release equipment for future combat aircraft under the US Air Force's Weapons Carriage Technology programme. Source: Flight International
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USA tries again to close F-16 Indonesian sale
US GOVERNMENT officials are hoping that a planned visit to Indonesia by the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff will revive the flagging deal to sell nine embargoed Lockheed Martin F-16A/Bs which had been destined for Pakistan. Gen John Shalikashvili is due to visit Indonesia in early May ...
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Bedek backs 707 as tanker platform
Douglas Barrie/TEL AVIV ISRAEL AIRCRAFT Industries' Bedek group is to stay with the Boeing 707 airframe as the basis for its tanker-conversion business, following internal studies into alternative airframes. Despite the age of the 707 design, senior Bedek officials believe that the airframe still provides ...
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P&W uses fluid dynamics to cure F119 fan flutter
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA PRATT & WHITNEY has used computational fluid-dynamics (CFD) to develop a remedy for fan flutter on the F119 engine for the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22. CFD analysis identified an airflow disturbance over the inlet guide-vanes which was causing vibration and flutter of the hollow fan blades. The F119 is ...
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Investigators probe DarkStar accident
THE LOCKHEED Martin/Boeing team is hurriedly revising plans for its second DarkStar unpiloted surveillance aircraft, following the destruction of the first aircraft in a crash at Edwards AFB, California, on 22 April. The accident compounds already-serious delays to the Tier III Minus DarkStar programme, which is being developed ...
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Pentagon orders VIP aircraft update
US DEFENCE SECRETARY William Perry, has ordered that all US military transports dedicated to passenger flights, be equipped with cockpit-voice recorders (CVRs), flight data recorders (FDRs) and global-positioning-system (GPS) hardware. In a letter to armed forces chiefs, Perry says: "Military flight crews must have the most capable and ...
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Lockheed Martin confirms follow-on transport plan
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA LOCKHEED MARTIN is looking for partners to develop a multi-purpose large aircraft to replace Boeing KC-135 tankers, Lockheed C-141 transports and tanker/transports such as the Lockheed TriStar and McDonnell Douglas KC-10. The aircraft, dubbed the "World Airlifter", would also be offered as a ...
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Pentagon plans aerostat cruise-missile defence
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US military is moving ahead with plans to field helium-filled aerostats to help support cruise-missile defences. A new tri-service project office, called the Joint Aerostat Project Management Office for Cruise Missile Defence is being established under US Army auspices at the ...
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DarkStar rises over California
The Lockheed Martin/ Boeing DarkStar high-altitude endurance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) had its first flight at Edwards AFB, California, on 29 March. The 21m-span UAV had a fully automated flight lasting 20min from take off to landing using differential global-positioning-system (GPS) navigation signals for guidance throughout. "The ...
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Eurocopter is close to clinching Cougar sales
Julian Moxon/MARIGNANE Eurocopter president Jean-Francois Bigay claims that the Franco-German consortium is aiming to conclude orders for "around 100" AS.532 Cougar military-transport helicopters this year. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and a further unnamed country are among those which could, says Bigay, make ...
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Norwegian upgrade
Norway plans a $65 million upgrade of its four maritime-patrol Lockheed Martin P-3C Orions with satellite and secure communications and missile-warning systems. Loral Defense Systems will be prime contractor. Source: Flight International