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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 1706.PDF
FLIGHT International, 20 March 1969 459 First of 105 NF-5 tactical fighters for the Royai Netherlands Air Force (75 -5As and 30 -5Ds) being rolled out on March 5 at the Canadair factory in Montreal •IIIIII DEFENCE li«Wf,5 HI mt i M F-14 or F-15? THREE AMERICAN COMPANIES are now in the running for the contract definition phase of the F-15 air superiority fighter programme—Fairchild-Hiller Corp. McDonnell Douglas, and North Ameri can Rockwell with Northrop Corp. This phase will provide refined design, funding and production data on which the Air Force will base its selection of the company to design and produce the new aircraft. Initial proposals are to be submitted to the Air Force in June for the start of evaluation. The F-15, originally designated the FX and being planned as a highly manceuver- able single-seat twin-engine jet fighter for the mid-1970s, has been given the highest Air Force priority. USAF and DoD officials say that its purpose will be to gain air superiority and absolute air supremacy over a battlefield; its performance will be significantly better than that of the present F-4E and it will be superior to any existing or future fighter in both visual and long-range missile encounters. Gen Joseph Holzapple, currently C-in-C of the US Air Forces in Europe, has described the F15 as having been pro posed to be able "to cope with anything we can see the Soviets coming up with." It looks as though there is going to be C-SA In-service Delay NOT ONLY FINANCIAL TROUBLES, but delays in entering service, are affecting the USAF Lockheed C-5A Galaxy pro gramme. Cost of the aircraft has risen by 25 per cent (Flight, February 6, page 230) and now a six months' delay is likely in the Galaxies reaching active service. The Air Force said recently that the first operational aircraft would be delivered in December instead of in June, which means the first operational squadron will not be formed until June 1970, a six-month time lag. considerable wrangling between the USAF and US Navy following the award of a $388 million contract to Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation (Flight. March 6, pages 370-371) for develop ment and production of its new F-14. It is believed that the Air Force fear that the tremendous cost of developing two new fighters may deter Congress from approving the F-15. The official Navy view is that each air arm needs its own aircraft developed to meet its peculiar requirements, but the Navy has been claiming its F-14 as an air-superiority fighter second to none, though this claim has been subsequently limited to the developed F-14B and -C equipped with a new engine and not carrying long- range Phoenix missiles. It was recently reported that the Navy would begin production of its F-14B model much earlier than originally antici pated, before 100 of the F-14s have been produced. Reports from Washington say that unofficially, but effectively, the Navy is making certain that everyone in the Defence Department concerned with decision-making and influential in Con gress is aware of the implications of this decision and of the capabilities of the F-14 as an air-superiority fighter. The Galaxy rolled out in March and made its first flight in June on schedule. "However," the Air Force say, "cumula tive delays due to increasingly longer procurement lead times for material and early manufacturing problems have prompted this decision." The C-5 has been modified to decrease weight and now includes a re-designed flap as well as beryllium brakes. The programme was criticised in the US Congress after testimony late last year by an Air Force civilian official that it might run up to $2 billion more than estimated costs (Flight, January 2). Israel's 50 Mirages ORDERED BY ISRAEL but not yet received, the 50 Dassault Mirage 5s belonged to the Israeli Government, which had paid 95 per cent of the cost of them. This was stated by the French Armed Forces Minister, M Pierre Messmer, at a recent press conference in Paris with foreign press representatives. He said that the French embargo applied only to the export of the aircraft from France. There was no question of their being sold to other countries unless the Israeli Govern ment preferred to have its money back. Servicing the rear 23mm gun position of a Soviet Air Force Tupoiev Ju-16 Badger. Some 600 of these medium bombers are still in Soviet Air Force and Navy service and numbers have been supplied to Indonesia, Iraq and Egypt
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