Latest Defence Helicopters news – Page 450
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Ready for launch
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Events taking place 10,000km (6,200 miles) apart could prove pivotal to the long-awaited deployment by military forces of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). US Navy officials now believe that VTOLUAV technology is mature enough for the service to begin equipping its warships ...
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FTC bans Boeing sale to Bell
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES The US government's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has blocked the sale of Boeing MD500/600 helicopters to Bell Helicopter Textron, forcing Boeing to put the two production lines back on the market. The MD500/600 lines were sold to Bell in March following Boeing's decision to opt ...
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DARO recommends intelligence consolidation
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Department of Defense should consider consolidating some of its intelligence-gathering aircraft and recon- naissance pod programmes, according to an architecture study released by the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO). Unclassified portions of the study look at development of a framework for designing an ...
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V-22 tilt rotor ploughs critical path
Across the base, flight testing of the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor transport is "on a critical path" leading to operational evaluation in 1999. Late delivery of the four development aircraft has left the integrated test team facing the challenges of meeting deadlines for sea trials, operational evaluation and testing ...
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BAeA offers Rooivalk for Australian project
British Aerospace Australia (BAeA) has teamed with South Africa's Denel Aviation to offer the CSH-2 Rooivalk attack helicopter for the Australian Army's Project Air 87. Formal agreement was reached between the two companies at the end of last month. The Army is looking for an armed helicopter to replace ...
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USN faces funding gap for new aircraft
Efforts by the US Navy to develop a Common Support Aircraft (CSA) are continuing to founder because of opposition by US legislators. The recent rejection of a $27 million fiscal year 1999 request by the House National Security Committee (HNSC) means that the future of the project will be determined ...
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Australia request
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has launched its requirement for an armed reconnaissance helicopter in a request for proposals (RFP) released to industry earlier this month. The total requirement is likely to be for between 25 and 30 aircraft, although airframe numbers are not detailed. Tandem seating is strongly preferred, ...
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GEC-Marconi's Chinese Argus negotiations reach deadlock
Paul Lewis/BEIJING GEC-Marconi's drawn-out contractual negotiations with the Chinese air force to supply the Argus 2000 airborne early warning (AEW) radar system are in danger of reaching an impasse over the issue of pricing. The two sides have been engaged in negotiations since late last year on the ...
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Motorola drops Celestri for Teledesic project
Motorola has abandoned plans to develop its Celestri "Internet-in-the-sky" satellite system and has signed a $750 million deal to take a stake in the rival Teledesic network. The move will result in Motorola securing a 26% share of the Teledesic system, which is already backed by Microsoft's Bill Gates, ...
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AMC rebuffs An-70 as basis of Future Large Aircraft project
Airbus Military Company (AMC) has rejected any possibility of it using the Antonov An-70 as the basis for a European Future Large Aircraft (FLA). The timing of the statement during the Berlin air show angered senior Airbus Industrie management, apparently concerned that the rejection of a German-led initiative to ...
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Boxing clever
US Vice President Al Gore's planned visit to Lockheed Martin's Forth Worth, Texas, F-16 production line on 15 May was effectively a celebration of far more than a $7 billion sale of the aircraft to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The event marks the closure of a threatening fissure between ...
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Polish anti-armour missile buy stays in neutral
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Polish defence officials are pushing Israel to agree to test firings of the Rafael NT-D anti-tank missile on Polish soil before the country commits itself formally to buying the weapons. Officials were due to meet on 15 May to plan the tests, which could include the ...
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UK details RAF project delays
Douglas Barrie/LONDON Lockheed Martin has paid the first instalment in a £23.5 million ($38 million) penalty charge to the UK Ministry of Defence for delays in delivery of the Royal Air Force's C-130J Hercules 2 tactical military transport. Details of the "liquidated damages" are revealed in the National ...
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Normalair-Garrett moves to AlliedSignal
Andrew Chuter/LONDON Control of Normalair-Garrett (NGL) in the UK has switched from GKN to AlliedSignal in a move which sees the US company acquire an additional 4% share in their joint venture operation. AlliedSignal has also purchased New York-based Hermetic Aircraft from GKN. The £12 million ($20 million) ...
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Airbus fights FLA delays
Douglas Barrie/LONDON Airbus Military Company (AMC) is attempting to pull forward a German-led study on the Antonov An-70's ability to meet European tactical military transport requirements. This is in an effort to avoid further delays to the European Future Large Aircraft (FLA) programme. The German study timescale conflicts with AMC's ...
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Singapore issues letters of request for attack helicopter
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Singapore has formally kicked off the tendering process for an attack helicopter by issuing competing European, South African and US manufacturers with letters of request (LoR) for up 20 airframes The LoR has given the three shortlisted bidders until June to submit their offers to the ...
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Berlin airlift impasse
Douglas Barrie/LONDONThe sight of an airlifter over Berlin used to be welcome. In the case of the Antonov An-70, making its Western show debut, there will be those among the crowd who wish it had remained in Ukraine. The An-70 is being championed by none other than Volker Rühe,Germany's defence ...
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A new conflict
The spat between the USA and South Africa over the former's ambition to bid for the latter's fighter and helicopter requirements, and therefore have hooks in South African military technology and its export, has the veneer of the old East/West conflict. For many, it merely presages the rumblings of conflicts ...
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Northrop Grumman eyes more Hawkeye sales
Northrop Grumman rolled out the first of two E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning (AEW) command and control aircraft - destined for the French navy - on 28 April , with further French purchases expected. The first French E-2C flew in March and the second will be completed in the ...
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JDA may focus on tanker and transport
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Japan Defence Agency (JDA) planners are weighing up options to defer development of a replacement maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) to focus its increasingly tight financial resources on acquiring a combined inflight refuelling tanker and transport jet. Local defence sources in Tokyo say that the JDA is ...