Latest Defence Helicopters news – Page 443
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Proposals requested for F/A-18E/F active array
Boeing has issued a draft request for proposals for an active-array radar for the F/A-18E/FSuper Hornet. It is awaiting the US Navy's go-ahead to launch a competition between Raytheon and Northrop Grumman to develop the active electronically scanned array (AESA). A winner is expected to be named in the fourth ...
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NATO reacts to surveillance challenge
Tim Ripley and DeeDeeDoke/LONDON Allied commanders are calling in additional surveillance assets to improve their coverage of Yugoslavia in an effort to combat intensifying Yugoslav military action in Kosovo. US Air Force General Atomics RQ-1A Predators and US Army TRW Hunter unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) - the latter on their ...
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Turbofan chosen for unmanned air vehicle
AlliedSignal's F124turbofan will power Boeing's unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), which is to be flight tested under a US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency technology demonstration contract (Flight International, 31 March-6 April). The unreheated turbofan was chosen over the Rolls-Royce Turboméca Adour to power the UCAV. The F124 is ...
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NATO air armada begins wave of attacks on Serbian targets
Howard Gethin/LONDON Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Aircraft from 13 NATO nations began an air and missile bombardment of Yugoslav military targets on the night of 24/25 March in response to the failure of the Yugoslav Government to sign up to peace talks over the disputed Kosovo region of Serbia. The ...
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USAF study faults weapon performance in Bosnia as NATO starts Serb campaign
Tim Ripley/LONDON With NATO airpower striking at Yugoslavia, details have emerged of the performance of US "smart" weapons used during the organisation's last Balkan air offensive in 1995. The USAF's Balkan Air Campaign Study, which remains unpublished, even though it is available through the Freedom of Information Act, says ...
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Making the transition
Eclipsed by the primes, Canada's second and third tiers contain world-class players Canada's diminishing defence spending has forced fundamental changes on to its aviation industry. Many companies, subsidiaries of US primes established to provide industrial offsets for Canada's past military purchases, have had to find a new raison d'etre. ...
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Bomber roadshow
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The USAF is pushing its bombers to the forefront of the expeditionary air force concept. But how long can they last? Deployment side by side of Northrop Grumman B-2s and Boeing B-52s is set to become commonplace as the US Air Force seeks to ...
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Northrop offers partnership in pitch for Wedgetail
Northrop Grumman plans to create an Australian subsidiary, which will be known as Hawkeye Mission Systems Australia. The new company would form part of its joint bid with Lockheed Martin for the Royal Australian Air Force's Project Wedgetail airborne early warning and control requirement. The new subsidiary would ...
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Delays hit Nimrod 2000 update
Howard Gethin/LONDON Serious delays to the £2.4 billion ($3.9 billion) programme to update 21 British Aerospace Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft to MRA4 standard for the Royal Air Force have pushed back the aircraft's in-service date until at least 2005. Compensation payments are being negotiated by the Ministry of ...
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Australia draws up shortlist for scout helicopter competition
The Australian Department of Defence is expected to release a shortlist for its armed reconnaissance helicopter project by the end of this month. Industry sources are widely tipping the Agusta Scorpion variant of the A129 (above), Eurocopter's Tiger and the Boeing AH-64 Apache as the final contenders. The project is ...
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Northrop launches F/A-18 radar drive
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Northrop Grumman has begun flight testing a "fourth generation" active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar as it prepares to bid to develop an active-array radar for the Boeing F/A-18E/F. The technology demonstration, in the company's BAC One-Eleven avionics flying testbed, is in support of its ...
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Transparent benefits
PeterLaFranchi/CANBERRA Australian acquisition of strategic unmanned air vehicles may raise the stakes in South-East Asia, but could help develop military transparency in the region if surveillance data is shared A new study of how unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) might fit into the Australian Defence Force structure cautions that strategic ...
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CASA chosen for final assembly of Airbus Military transporter
Julian Moxon/TOULOUSECASA of Spain has been nominated to carry out final assembly of the seven-nation A400M transporter if Airbus Military Company (AMC) secures an order from European governments to develop and build the aircraft. The assembly decision is part of a series of workshare agreements surrounding the A400M, formerly the ...
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CFMI proposes engine refit for JSTARS
CFM International (CFMI) plans to submit proposals to the US Air Force by the end of this month for the re-engining of its 15 Boeing E-8 joint surveillance and target attack radar system (JSTARS) ground surveillance radar aircraft.The bid will include the first proposed use of the CFM56-3 on a ...
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Predator Feed
Boeing has tested combined operations with an E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar system (JSTARS) battlefield surveillance aircraft and a Predator unmanned air vehicle (UAV) using the company's Aviation Information Service antenna. The system fed the video information from the UAV via a satellite to the E-8 to enhance JSTARS ...
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Escape route
Reducing the number of cabin exits to accelerate emergency passenger evacuation sounds like a contradiction in terms. That is, however, what Airbus Industrie is arguing as it tries to persuade European and US regulators to change the certification rules which affect the exit layout for its stretched A340, the -600 ...
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Technology transfer hits Boeing AEW bid
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Peter La Franchi/CANBERRA Boeing has been unable to give the required guarantee of technology releasability in its bid to supply Australia with airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. Boeing and Northrop Grumman, supplier of the MESA phased-array radar to be carried by the 737-based ...
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Australia seeks a replacement for Rapier air defence missiles
Peter La Franchi/CANBERRA The Australian Department of Defence is to release a request for proposals late this year for purchase of a ground-based air defence system to replace the Australian Army's ageing Rapier missile batteries. The project, Joint 117, won the Australian defence committee's go-ahead, including funding approval, ...
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Aiming high
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Aero Vodochody is upgrading its trainers and light attack aircraft to attract Eastern and Western customers With a 35% shareholding by Boeing, the world's biggest aerospace company, Aero Vodochody is no longer a poor cousin in the trainer/light attack aircraft market. Today, all of its products are ...
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Ariane launches the UK's military Skynet 4E with Arabsat 3A
The UK's Skynet 4E military communications satellite and the Arabsat 3A satellite were launched on board Ariane V116/44L from Kourou, French Guyana, on 26 February. Matra Marconi Space built the Skynet 4E, and the first of the new generation Arabsat 3A communications spacecraft was built by Aerospatiale's satellite division, ...