Helicopters – Page 472
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VTOL contenders line up for TUAV
BELL HELICOPTER Textron has surprised rivals by offering the Eagle Eye tilt-rotor unmanned air vehicle for the US Department of Defense's multi-billion dollar Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) competition (Flight International, 27 March -2 April). The US helicopter maker joins at least six other bidders for a two-year ...
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BAe offers to build new Nimrod 2000s for RAF
Douglas Barrie/WARTON BRITISH AEROSPACE HAS submitted an option to build new Nimrod 2000s in support of its bid to meet the Royal Air Force's replacement maritime-patrol-aircraft requirement. With its offer, BAe hopes to overcome possible RAF concerns over the attrition rate of its maritime patrol ...
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Bell to lead AH-1W and UH-1 upgrades
Graham Warwick/Atlanta THE US MARINE CORPS is to award Bell Helicopter Textron a single prime contract to upgrade its AH-1W SuperCobra and UH-1N Huey dynamic systems and AH-1W cockpit in November 1997. Bell will then conduct a competition on behalf of the USMC to select equipment for ...
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USA thinks again on combat-aircraft sales
US POLICY BARRING THE sale of combat aircraft to Latin America is "under review" by the Departments of Defense and State. That is all the US Government would say at the show, despite fielding a major military presence led by defence secretary William Perry, after boycotting the show in 1994. ...
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Vertical virtuality
Peter Gray/FORTWORTH If "flying" the simulator is any guide, Bell Boeing's V-22 Osprey proves the tilt-rotor concept. THE PRINCIPLE behind tilt-rotor aircraft has been around almost since the Second World War. Bell developed the first experimental design in the mid-1950s, carried the idea forward with the XV-15 technology demonstrator, ...
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Win some, lose some
The US DoD's 1997 budget request represents a 6% decline in defence spending. Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC THE US Department of Defense (DoD) has sent to Capitol Hill a fiscal year 1997 budget request which represents a 6% decline in Pentagon spending from the previous year's ...
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Concerns about V-22 downwash crop
BELL BOEING AND the US Marine Corps are playing down concerns over downwash which emerged from testing of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor. A report rated downwash as a "moderate risk" after a test in which a soldier rappelled 18m (60ft) from the rear ramp of a hovering V-22 and was ...
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Four decades of development
THE TILT-ROTOR is a remarkable aircraft. With the "prop-rotor" nacelles vertical, it can hover, fly sideways and backwards and turn on the spot - just like a tandem-rotor helicopter. With the nacelles horizontal, it has the speed, range and cruising altitude of a conventional twin turboprop. The ...
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US Air Force moves on with anti-missile laser device
Karen Walker/ORLANDO A REQUEST FOR proposals (RFP) covering the development of an anti-missile laser system will be released by the US Air Force in May. Two teams aim to win the airborne-laser (ABL) system demonstration/validation award. The $754 million demonstration phase will allow the winning ...
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Buses to Bosnia
As USAF McDonnell Douglas C-17s are withdrawn from Bosnia, assessment of the transport aircraft begins Tim Ripley/BOSNIA WHEN THE HARSH Balkan winter halted US Army efforts to bridge the River Sava and troop trains became backed-up in Hungarian marshalling yards, US military planners began to ...
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Boeing plans CH-46 lifeline
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES BOEING IS PUSHING A service-life extension of its CH-46 to the US Navy as an alternative to procuring a new helicopter to fulfil the vertical-replenishment (vertrep) role. It has proposed a basic CH-46 fleet-sustainment plan to the US Naval Air Systems Command, ...
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S Korea/IPTN in CN-235 trade
SOUTH KOREA IS negotiating a barter-trade deal, with Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN), for up to 14 Indonesian-built CN-235 transports. Discussions focus on the supply of an initial eight CN-235 turboprops, with a follow-on purchase of a further six aircraft. The South Korean air force requires the first ...
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Lockheed Martin pushes Orion 2000 to US Navy
LOCKHEED MARTIN is lobbying the US Navy to commit to the Orion 2000 as its replacement for its Orion P-3Cs before the UK Ministry of Defence chooses its next-generation maritime patrol aircraft in July. The US manufacturer has teamed with GEC-Marconi and Hunting to compete with British Aerospace/Boeing ...
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European debutante
This year sees the start of production of the first true Eurocopter product for the civil market: the EC 135. Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Cutaway by Giuseppe Picarella ALL EUROCOPTER AIRCRAFT to date, apart from the military Tiger, have been either French, from Aerospatiale's stable, or German, of former ...
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Slow rise to recovery
Although the helicopter industry continues to struggle, the HAI convention booms. Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Julian Moxon/PARIS HELI-EXPO '96, THE Helicopter Association International (HAI) convention in Dallas, Texas, 22-24 February, comes as the industry continues to suffer depressed sales levels for new helicopters and is dogged by ...
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E-3 demonstration
A non-co-operative target identification (NCTI) capability for the Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne-warning and control system is to be demonstrated by the US Air Force. A 42-month programme is planned, leading to laboratory and flight-testing of an active-radar target-identification processor. The NCTI system is intended to classify targets, whether military or ...
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US Navy examines rotary resupply
THE FEASIBILITY OF using commercially operated helicopters for vertical replenishment (Vertrep) of warships is to be further evaluated during a follow-on at-sea cargo-movement demonstration scheduled by the US Navy for later this year. In January, the US Military Sealift Command (MSC) issued a request, for proposals for a ...
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DASA fails to cement Alenia deal
PLANS BY Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) to offer its high Deutschmark costs by placing work in Italy have been hit by delays over the failure by prospective Italian aerospace partner Alenia to produce long-term guarantees that it can offer substantial cost benefits. DASA had hoped to tie up ...
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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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A different direction
A continuing trend for takeovers and mergers is changing the face of the defence industry worldwide Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC WESTINGHOUSE'S decision to sell its defence-electronics business to North- rop Grumman for $3 billion signals a new wave of US aerospace-industry mergers. "Consolidation should remain a ...