Helicopters – Page 475
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Boeing plans commercial Chinook revival in China
BOEING IS negotiating with Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing (HAMC) to restart production of the 234 Commercial Chinook in China. According to local sources, Boeing has proposed establishing a full 234 production line in Harbin, northern China. The deal is understood to include providing plans for HAMC to build its ...
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Teams aim for the stars
AT LEAST THREE US industry teams will bid for a multi-million-dollar contract to modernise the US Federal Aviation Administration's terminal radar-approach-control (TRACON) system, which handles aircraft within 80km (45nm ) of US airports. The aviation agency's upcoming standard terminal-automation-replacement system (STARS) competition involves the upgrade of more ...
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Birdstrike is suspected in AWACS crash
A US AIR FORCE BOARD of inquiry is trying to determine why a Boeing-built E-3B Advanced Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance aircraft crashed at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, on 22 September. The militarised four-engine Boeing 707 was attempting to take off for a training mission. All 24 aboard, ...
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Portugal considers F-16 options
PORTUGAL IS considering procuring an additional 20-40 Lockheed Martin F-16s, along with taking on board the mid-life-upgrade (MLU) put together for other European F-16 operators. A team from the company is due to visit Portugal on 28/29 September, to discuss the upgrade. The aircraft on offer are secondhand ...
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USA orders Ultra Electronics equipment for Harriers
ULTRA ELECTRONICS has received its first major order from the US Government, covering the supply of HiPPAG 320 systems and support equipment for US Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers. The contract is valued at $5.7 million. The HiPPAG 320 is an electronically controlled air-compressor and purification unit which ...
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Westinghouse attacks IAI 'unfair competition'
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA WESTINGHOUSE Norden Systems has accused Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) of unfair competition, after the Israeli company switched radar suppliers for the Turkish McDonnell Douglas F-4 upgrade programme, from Norden to its own subsidiary, Elta. Westinghouse alleges that IAI misled the Turkish air force as ...
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Chirac lobbies for Eurocopter in Spain
FRENCH PRESIDENT Jacques Chirac has intervened in the competition between Eurocopter and Sikorsky to meet a Spanish army transport-helicopter requirement by writing to his Spanish counterpart, prime minister Felipe Gonzalez, urging him to opt for the Eurocopter AS.532 UL Cougar, rather than the rival Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk. ...
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Five C-130Hs bound for Malaysia
THE MALAYSIAN air force has purchased five of Lockheed Martin's nine remaining unsold C-130H Hercules transport aircraft, say local sources. Lockheed Martin reveals that it has only four military transports, together with two civil L-100s, left to place, after recently selling five stretched C-130-30Hs. The aircraft are the ...
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NASA tests hypersonic design
Andrew Doyle/LONDON A HYPERSONIC-aircraft concept, known as the "wave-rider", which would be capable of speeds ranging from Mach 4 to M6, is undergoing wind-tunnel tests at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. The wave-rider series, powered by air-breathing hypersonic engines, would be particularly suitable as ...
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Royal Navy opts for Racal GPS units
THE ROYAL NAVY IS to fit all of its front-line helicopters with Racal Avionics' secure global-positioning-system (GPS) equipment. The £25 million ($39 million) upgrade programme, due for completion in 1999, will cover over 150 aircraft. An integrated logistic-support package, which lasts until 2003, is also included. Racal, as ...
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Boeing wins US Air Force radome deal
BOEING DEFENSE and Space Group is to begin construction in October of the first of four new radomes for the E-4B Advanced Airborne Command Post Aircraft under a $8 million US Air Force contract. The new 8m long, wedge-shaped radome has been designed to contain an extra high ...
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US Navy plans to modify Osprey V-22 radar design
THE US NAVY has directed the development of specific terrain-following/terrain-avoidance radar-design changes and related modifications needed to create the CV-22 special-operations variant of the Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. A contract to be awarded in 1996 will pay for the conversion of one engineering and manufacturing development ...
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Sea Launch project gains a boost
THE INTERNATIONAL Sea Launch project for commercial geostationary-orbiting satellite-launcher services from an equatorial mobile offshore platform has moved on with the award of $171 million contracts to two Norwegian firms. Sea Launch, a partnership between Boeing (USA); NPO Energia (Russia); NPO Yuzhnoye (Ukraine); and Kvaerner (Norway); has given ...
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Nimrod crashes at Canadian air show
A ROYAL AIR Force (RAF) British Aerospace Nimrod MR2 maritime reconnaissance aircraft with a crew of seven crashed into Lake Ontario during its display sequence at the Canadian International Air Show, Toronto on 2 September. There were no survivors. When the aircraft hit the surface, about 200 nose-down, it had ...
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Bell Boeing to develop CV-22
BELL BOEING has received a US Navy contract to design changes to the V-22 for the special-operations mission. A follow-on contract is expected in 1996, to convert the second of four MV-22 engineering- and manufacturing-development aircraft to the CV-22 special-operations configuration. The US Air Force plans to buy ...
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Mirage shot down during NATO air strikes
A FRENCH AIR force Dassault Mirage 2000 was shot down near Pale during a series of extensive air strikes launched by NATO against Bosnian Serb positions beginning 30 August. Targets attacked included radar sites and surface-to-air-missile batteries, ammunition dumps and communications infrastructure. According to NATO, the air strikes ...
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Bosnian battleground
The British Army's Airmobile Brigade deploys on its first operational outing, in Croatia. Tim Ripley/PLOCE A senior 24 Airmobile Brigade officer explains the rationale for dispatching the British Army brigade to reinforce the United Nat ions Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in the former Yugoslavia, saying: "We give ...
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Lifting off
When Helitech '95 opens, it will reflect an industry overcoming its problems and showing signs of resurgence Kate Sarsfield/LONDON WITH SO MANY MAJOR, regional and specialist air shows in the aerospace calendar, it is becoming increasingly hard for event organisers to attract large numbers of exhibitors. ...
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Benefits of the doubt needed
Sir - I refer to press reports on the findings of a Military Accidents Investigation Board convened to establish the cause of the accident to the Royal Air Force Boeing Chinook Mk2 which crashed on the Mull of Kintyre on 2 June, 1994, with no survivors (Flight International, 21-27 June, ...
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Boeing lands EAGLE tracker deal
BOEING HAS WON a $43.5 million US Air Force contract to develop and demonstrate an infra-red (IR) sensor suite for the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) which will be used to detect and track theatre ballistic missiles (TBMs). Testing will take place in 1998. The contract ...