Latest Defence Helicopters news – Page 446
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RAF holds back on tanker programme
The UK Ministry of Defence has delayed releasing a request for information (RFI) for the Royal Air Force's future strategic tanker aircraft programme for six months as Airbus Industrie and Boeing prepare to square off with respective proposed new military derivatives of the A310-300 and 767-300ER twinjets. Manufacturers had ...
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FMS upgrade
Boeing has selected the Smiths Industries Advanced Flight Management System (FMS) for the US Navy E-6 Mercury avionics upgrade. The E-6 cockpit modernisation will be performed under an $11 million contract. Delivery will begin in July 2000. Each FMS system will include two Flight Management Computers and two AMLCD multi-purpose ...
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Japan's T-7 decision saves Fuji's day
Andrew Mollett/TOKYO The Japanese Government has thrown Fuji Heavy Industries' beleaguered aerospace division a lifeline with its decision to choose a modified version of the company's T-3 as the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's (JASDF) next generation basic trainer. Neither the Japanese Defence Agency (JDA) nor Fuji will disclose the ...
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Commercial boost
Tim Furniss/LONDON The US Air Force is expected shortly to award Boeing and Lockheed Martin $500 million contracts to begin development of new booster families which will cut the cost of launching satellites into orbit. The first operational launches are planned for 2001. The USAF's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle ...
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Woodard goes in Boeing shake-up
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing Commercial Airplane Group (BCAG) president Ron Woodard has been replaced by Alan Mulally, former president of the Information, Space and Defense Systems (ISDS) unit as part of sweeping management and organisational changes announced by company chairman Phil Condit on 1 September. The move follows months ...
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Sextant, Lockheed pact opens new doors
Sextant Avionique and Lockheed Martin have announced an agreement that could give the French company a foothold in the important US military avionics and flight systems market. Sextant is one of only three major international companies capable of delivering complete avionics solutions, and already supplies systems for the C-160, ...
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Osprey basks in the glow of attention
Paul Derby As Bell Boeing's V-22 Osprey tiltrotor gears up for the battle to meet the UK's Future Amphibious Support Helicopter (FASH) requirement, US military "big guns" were out in force yesterday to give the V-22 their undivided support. A briefing given by Brig Gen Ed Langston of ...
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Europeans back studies of navigation system
Steve Nichols A number of European companies are supporting research into the next generation of navigation, communications and air traffic systems. The North European CNS/ATM Applications (NEAP) project, which is supported by SAS, Lufthansa, Luftfartsverket, DFS and SLV, is investigating and testing a range of future applications. ...
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Ericsson seeks international customers for Erieye system
Geoff Thomas Swedish company Ericsson Microwave Systems has two of its Erieye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) systems at Farnborough '98, one on view in the static park and one in the flying display. The company hopes to attract customers from around the world, primarily those who ...
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Leach International power assemblies for tiltrotor
Paul Derby Bell Helicopter Textron has selected Leach International to provide seven electrical power distribution assemblies (EDPAs) for the 609 civil tiltrotor. Leach has also been handed a second boost for its European arm with another EDPA order, this time from Saab. The assemblies will be used on ...
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Typhoon is the ultimate, says test pilot
Geoff Thomas It was a visit to an air display at RAF Wattisham in the late Fifties that whetted Eurofighter Typhoon test pilot John Turner's appetite for aviation. "I was only five or six, but Triple One Squadron's famous Royal Air Force display team - the Black Arrows ...
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Flaps away for Dowty
Dowty Aerospace has won a multi-million-pound contract from British Aerospace Military Aircraft to design and develop the complete flap actuation system and other flight control equipment for the BAe Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft. The precise value of the contract has not been revealed. The MRA4 is a virtually ...
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Soul-searching time at Airbus and Boeing
Mike Martin Air show history was made yesterday when both Airbus Industrie and Boeing leaders held press conferences and made almost no reference to each other. Both companies are looking inwards and the emerging picture is fascinating. Boeing president Harry Stonecipher made what amounted to a gracious and ...
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Osprey touted for military competitions
Karen Walker Most people have heard about the phoenix that rose from the ashes - but what about the Osprey? Salesmen for the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor admit that one of the most common reactions they come across as they market the aircraft outside the US is ...
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Storming the skies
Geoff Thomas Weather's always a problem for display pilots, especially when the remnants of a hurricane - now demoted to a tropical storm - head across the Atlantic towards Europe- and Farnborough. Maybe the best-prepared will be Dassault's chief test pilot Yves Kerherve who says that the Dassault Rafale ...
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Mergers on cards for small aviation firms?
Alan Dron The wave of consolidation that has swept the upper echelons of the US aviation industry will be repeated among second-tier and smaller, specialist, companies over the next few years, believes Frank Lanza, chairman and chief executive officer of L-3 Communications. New to Farnborough,L-3 Communications was formed ...
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Eurofighter contract delay 'no problem'
Tim Ripley Eurofighter chiefs have played down a last minute hitch in negotiations over the first batch of 148 production EF2000s. "In next few weeks we will sign fixed price contracts for first production batch of 148 aircraft [for Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK]," declares ...
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Helicopters square up for battle on contracts
Paul Derby As the world's helicopter manufacturers descend on Farnborough this week, they will be training their sights on a series of potentially lucrative contracts for attack helicopters. Top of the agenda will be the Turkish air force's requirement for up to 150 combat helicopters - a deal ...
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'Stealth' Comanche is out to collect a few scalps
Karen Walker Hitching a ride on a Boeing C-17, the Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche scout/attack helicopter has arrived at Farnborough to make its worldwide airshow debut. The Comanche prototype 2 will be on static display throughout the show. It is the first time the aircraft has been taken ...
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Atlantic Research develops new Agena engine
Tim Furniss Atlantic Research has released details at the Show of its new Agena 2000 rocket engine for the Lockheed Martin fleet of US Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELVs). The 15,000lb thrust nitrogen tetroxide-monomethyl hydrazine engine will power a storable upper stage that can be fitted as ...