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Aviation History
1978
1978 - 1569.PDF
FLIGHT International, 19 August 1978 Japan's 2,000th jet engine ISHIKAWAJIMA-Harima Heavy In dustries (IHI) has delivered its 2,000th engine, a J7MHI-17, to the Japan Defence Agency. IHI designed and made its first aviation gas turbine, a J3 turbojet for a T-1B intermediate trainer, in October 1959. The company went on to make 229 more, followed by 647 T58 helicopter turboshafts and 336 T64 turboprops. Both types were built under licence from General Elec tric, and have been followed by more than 560 examples of the J79, which powers Japanese F-104Js and F-4EJs and is still in production. Six of the company's JR lift engines have been built, and 189 TF40 licence- built Rolls-Royce Adours for Japan's T-2 and F-l trainer and strike aircraft have been manufactured. Future work includes F100 turbofans for Japan's F-15s and T56 turboprops for its P-3CS. The 2,000th jet engine to be built in Japan, a J79-IHI-I7 for a Mitsubishi-assembled F-4EJ Phantom, was recently handed over to the Japan Defence Agency by Ishikawajima- Harima Heavy Industries 515 Two indigenous turbofan projects are the ll,0001b-thrust FJR710 and the 2,6501b-thrust XF-3. A 3,0001b-thrust civil turbofan, the CFJ801, has been proposed. IHI also repairs and over hauls engines for most aircraft oper ated by Japanese airlines and produces industrial versions of aero gas tur bines. British Ministry of Defence underspends by £1,000 million DELAYS in production of new equip ment have meant a total surplus of nearly £1,000 million from British de fence budgets over the past six years. The Ministry of Defence has under spent its budget in 12 of the last 14 years, according to a House of Com mons Expenditure Committee report.* By reallocating funds to other pro grammes such as the purchase of nine VC10 airliners for conversion to tankers and the provision of spares for military aircraft, the Ministry spent more than £100 million of last year's shortfall, leaving a total of £80 million unspent. Forecasts for the last financial year were upset by the deci sions to continue development of the AEW Nimrod (rather than to join in the long-delayed Nato Awacs project) and to slow progress on shipbuilding programmes. The report is critical not only of the failures to spend all the available de fence funds, but also of the effect on British forces of what are virtually defence cuts by default. A level of underspending which reached a maxi mum of more than six per cent in 1973-74 sharply affects British plans to increase defence expenditure by three per cent per annum. • The Ministry of Defence employs a total of 160 press officers, according to a Commons written reply on July 6. Only the combined Trade, Industry and Prices and Consumer Protection departments (177) and the Central Office of Information (508) employ more. Fifteen of the remaining 16 government departments employ an average of fewer than 26. • MoD advertising expenditure over the past five years totals £18,511,400, according to a Commons written reply on July 3. • Eighth Expenditure Committee re port; HMSO, price £1-10. UK industry's first-half 1978 exports climb above £500 million BRITISH aerospace exports for the first half of 1978 totalled almost £550 million, according to the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC). This is some 11 per cent up on the figure for the same period last year, with only the March figure falling behind its 1977 equivalent. Sales of aircraft instruments were up 50 per cent to more than £28 mil lion, while ground trainer and simu lator exports more than doubled to just under £7 million. Exports of guided weapons set a new record for any six-month period at more than £15 million. June saw the export of £48 million- worth of aircraft and parts, and engines and engine spares deliveries for the month were valued at almost £39 million. The SBAC points out that the early 1978 export returns, as recorded by Customs and Excise, were artificially inflated by the EEC-required inclusion of refurbished aircraft which had pre viously been imported for repair and overhaul. The subsequent re-export of such aircraft is not included in the above figures. B.CAL to serve Dallas/Fort Worth BRITISH CALEDONIAN has been licensed by the British Civil Aviation Authority to serve Dallas/Fort Worth from London Gatwick. B.CAL chair man Adam Thomson welcomes the decision "as increasing the British presence in the South-eastern USA." B.CAL has not yet said when it intends to start services to DFW, but it is unlikely to begin before it is free to operate non-stop. Direct DFW- London rights are held exclusively by Braniff until 1980 under the terms of the 1977 Bermuda 2 agreement. The CAA says in its judgment that B.CAL was proposing a better service geared more directly to the needs of the Texas market than that planned by British Airways, and that B.CAL was more dedicated to the concept of a Gatwick service. The CAA also feels that the award of DFW to British Airways would have brought it into wasteful competition with B.CAL. New Flogger variant revealed A NEW version of the Mikoyan MiG- 23 Flogger fighter offering longer range and, probably, better manoeuvr ability is now being released to Soviet Air Force units. The first examples of the new version to be observed equipped a SovAF contingent which paid an official visit to a Finnish Air Force unit earlier this month. The new Flogger differs from earlier versions in having smaller tail surfaces, suggesting increased reliance on artificial stability and better manoeuvrability. It is also the first MiG-23 variant to have provision for underwing ferry tanks. v
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