Latest Defence Helicopters news – Page 447
-
News
Japan lines up ramjet-powered ASM launch
The Japan Defence Agency (JDA) is planning to launch initial development of a new integrated ramjet-powered supersonic air-to-surface missile (ASM) as a successor to the Mitsubishi Type 93 ASM-2. Tentatively designated the ASM-3, the new missile will be powered by a combined-cycle rocket motor during launch and acceleration, and ...
-
News
Bidders revise AEW offers as South Korea delays
A revised line-up is emerging for the stalled South Korean airborne early warning (AEW) competition, reflecting developments in contests now under way in Australia, Greece and Turkey. Before the programme was delayed by the country's economic crisis, South Korea had shortlisted three contenders for its AEW requirement: Boeing's 767 ...
-
News
V-22 carries record load at speed during trials
A Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor unofficially broke a rotorcraft record on 20 August by carrying a 4,550kg (10,000lb) external load at 220kt (410km/h) in trials . The maximum payload lift, by a Marine Helicopter Support Team, was made on the V-22's aft external cargo hook. "This is the ...
-
News
Take your partners
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH While Western Europe moves towards an integrated European aerospace and defence company, manufacturers in former Communist Eastern Europe must decide how they will survive in a market dominated by giants. Clearly, the companies cannot continue in their present form, and they cannot survive alone. In Poland ...
-
News
Affordable AEW
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Guy Norris/SEATTLE Boeing's Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) with its distinctive rotodome, whether mounted on a 707 or 767 based airframe, is likely to be the last of the large, expensive surveillance platforms. While the USA is looking towards space-based surveillance in the long term, ...
-
News
Too much, too late
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US government's unexpected opposition to Lockheed Martin's planned $12 billion acquisition of Northrop Grumman led to the deal's demise, but the so-called "merger mania" evident since the end of the Cold War is now expected to produce a wave of consolidation among smaller, second-tier US ...
-
News
Lean on the line
Industry may never see World War II production rates again - but the lessons live onGuy Norris/Seattle Ian Sheppard/London Graham Warwick/Fort WorthFor Boeing, it was back to the future when it began implementing lean manufacturing in 1993, as many of the real lessons were taught back in the Second World ...
-
News
Virtual fighters
Lockheed Martin is redefining what it costs to develop and produce a new combat aircraftGraham Warwick/Fort WorthTwo imperatives drive almost every operation at Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems: keeping the F-16 in production, and winning the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) competition. Both goals share one prerequisite - affordability. Of all ...
-
News
S Korean air force considers stopgap fighter
The South Korean air force is considering leasing interim fighter aircraft to make up for a two-year delay in its future F-X programme. Samsung Aerospace is lobbying to sell more Lockheed Martin F-16C/Ds to make up the shortfall and keep its Sachon licence production line open beyond 2000. South ...
-
News
Lean machines
BAe is relying on lean manufacturing to meet cost goals for the Eurofighter Ian Sheppard/Samlesbury Recession and restructuring can have their benefits, as is the case for British Aerospace's Samlesbury site in the north of England. With the closure in the early 1990s of the nearby Preston plant, then the ...
-
News
USAF plans further manoeuvre vehicle tests
Further drop tests in the US Air Force Space Manoeuvre Vehicle (SMV) programme are planned, including a suborbital rocket engine boosted test flight in 2001, following the successful first drop-test of a 6.7m-long flight test vehicle on 11 August (Flight International, 19-25 August). A fully developed operational SMV would provide ...
-
News
Aero Vodochody flies initial combat version of L-159
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Czech jet trainer manufacturer Aero Vodochody has flown the first single-seat L-159 Advanced Light Combat Aircraft, which is earmarked to become the mainstay of the Czech air force's combat fleet. The aircraft is the second L-159 prototype, but the first in Czech air force configuration, with a full ...
-
News
CASA prepares for privatisation
Julian Moxon/PARIS Spanish state-owned manufacturer CASA has revealed a massive five-year investment plan to prepare the company for privatisation and to secure its place in the wider European consolidation. The plans have raised a negative reaction from unions, however. Up to Ptas141 billion ($900 million) is to be spent ...
-
News
Deepwater contract winners will be named shortly
Study contracts for the US Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater System re-equipment programme are scheduled to be awarded within the next two weeks, according to bidders. Just three of the four bidders are expected to move forward into the first phase of the programme to replace the Coast Guard's Deepwater ...
-
News
Singapore scrutinises support
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Singapore has begun evaluating different proposed logistical support packages for its planned fleet of eight new attack helicopters, following the recent submission of tenders by rival airframe and powerplant suppliers. The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) has sought to maximise its options by requesting separate ...
-
News
Boeing uses F-15E to prove
Boeing has demonstrated the use of commercial computing technology in an F-15E combat aircraft. Flight testing of an advanced display core processor (ADCP) using PowerPC hardware began in late July. The ADCP replaces both the central computer and the multi-purpose display processor in the F-15E testbed. Boeing says that ...
-
News
Software tool promises fast design choices
European systems consultancy Knowledge Technologies International (KTI) is close to the release of a new software tool which links a system integrator with its suppliers in electronic product definition. The new system represents an extension of the existing ICAD manufacturing tool, which KTI has now acquired from original US ...
-
News
New Zealand air force defines A-4 Skyhawk replacement
Paul Phelan/AUCKLAND The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) has defined a future requirement for about 25 aircraft "in the F-16 or F/A-18 category" as a replacement for its fleet of nine McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawks in the wake of a Government decision to stabilise defence expenditure. Chief of Air ...
-
News
Bell plans to assemble tiltrotor at Amarillo site
After evaluating 1,200 locations across the USA, and shortlisting eight sites, all in its home state of Texas, Bell Helicopter Textron is to build its new tiltrotor assembly centre in Amarillo. The plant will assemble both the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey military tiltrotor transport and the Bell 609 six/nine-seat ...
-
News
Turkish team wins control of Piaggio
A team led by the Tushav Turkish state-holding company has emerged as the winning bidder to take control of struggling Italian aerospace company Piaggio, with the promise of new overhaul work and aircraft orders from Turkey. Tushav, which co-ordinates Turkey's aerospace and defence industry, will emerge with a 51% ...