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Aviation History
1980
1980 - 0935.PDF
894 FLIGHT Internationa/, 22 March 1980 Lavi: Israel's ISRAEL has asked the US Govern ment for the General Electric F404 engine for the Israel Aircraft Indus tries (IAI) Lavi,* a new indigenous combat aircraft (see Flight, March 8, page 736), previously known as the Aryeh. The Israelis also expressed interest in some industrial participa tion in the F404 programme. While no specific information on the Lavi's development programme has been released, it is probable that the prototype engines will be re- Casualties... An F-105 Thunderchief of the 108th Tactical Fighter Wing, New Jersey Air National Guard, crashed on McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, last month. The pilot ejected and had minor injuries. The cause of the acci dent has not yet been determined. A Royal Air Force Phantom FGR.2 of 29 Sqn crashed at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, on March 5. The Phan tom crashed on the airfield following a technical failure during a night- flying sortie. The crew ejected safely and the aircraft, which then ran across the B1192 road and came to rest in a field, was provisionally assessed as Damage Category 5 (write-off). An F-16A of the Royal Netherlands Air Force crashed into the Ijsselmeer on March 10. The pilot, who did not eject, was killed. The F-16 was the second of a two-ship formation on an air-to-ground gunnery sortie on the Vlieland range. Both aircraft, which had been modified to cure the un- commanded yaw problem associated with gun firing on earlier F-16s (see Flight, March 1, page 623), had com pleted their first pass on the range and were on a downwind leg for another attack. The formation went into Instrument Meteorological Con ditions and the accident happened at this time. The lead aircraft did not see what happened to the accident aircraft, which made no radio trans missions. A Royal Air Force Harrier GR.3 of 3 Sqn RAF Gutersloh, Germany, crashed two miles south of Lampeter in Wales on March 12. The Harrier was part of an RAF Germany Harrier force detached to RAF Wittering to work up for the Maple Flag exercises to be held in Canada later this year (see Flight last week, page 824). The Harrier was on a low-level mission when it suffered a birdstrike. The pilot ejected safely and was picked up by a Royal Air Force Sea King from RAF Brawdy. new combat quired in the mid-1980s. The total number of F404s needed has not yet been fixed. The Israelis have placed priority on approval of F404 sales and it is assumed by Pentagcn sources that the Israelis will formally request a co-production agreement at a later date. The Lavi will replace Israeli Air Force Kfirs and Skyhawks by the end of this decade. Defence Minister Ezer Weizman says that the Ministerial Defence Committee has approved Tracer... The Argentinian Navy order for Dassault-Breguet Super Etendard carrier-based fighters totals 14 air craft with the weapons systems and avionics adapted to the Service's re quirements. British Aerospace is building ten more Strikemasters at its Hum fac tory. The aircraft are being assembled from major components produced at Preston. BAe states that the aircraft are not for any specific purchaser but that they are confident of re-sales to previous Strikemaster customers. Marshall of Cambridge has started work on the first of 29 Royal Air Force Lockheed C-130K Hercules to be stretched in the UK. Lockheed has delivered one stretched aircraft which should complete RAF trials towards the end of the year. Conversion, which involves inserting two plugs to lengthen the fuselage by 15ft, takes some 70 working days. Deliveries of the Dassault-Breguet/ Dornier Alpha Jet have passed the 100 mark. At the end of February the French Air Force had 33, the Belgian Air Force 26, the Luftwaffe 34, and the Royal Moroccan Air Force 7. Pro duction rate is 12 aircraft a month. Soviet Air Force MiG-23s have joined MiG-21s and Mi-24 helicopter gun- ships in attacks on the Afghanistan province of Konar near the Pakistan border. Two Pakistani Air Force fighters intercepted a Soviet An-26 on March 1. After firing warning shots, the fighters escorted the transport to within five miles of Afghan territory. The Soviet Union claims the An-26 was operating within Afghan air space. A consortium of Negev air base con structors has received a $354 million contract for the second of two Israeli airfields financed by the US. The air field at Ovda, together with the first base at Ramon, will replace two facili ties in the Sinai which will be given up under the Israel-Egypt peace agreement. Each base is expected to cost some $800 million. $750 million for design and construc tion of the airframe. A further $200 million would be required to set up a production line for the US engine. He states that engine production would be at IAI's Beit Shemesh fac tory. Weizman also says that he is thinking of purchasing F-18s to re place F-4s in the interceptor role. *There has. in the past, been some confusion over the names of Israeli aircraft. The Hebrew for lion is Kfir; Aryeh also means lion. Lavi is a young lion, but not a lion cub. Tracer... China has tested what is thought to be the CSS-3 limitef range (6,500km) intercontinental ballistic missile. The February 9 test used a launch site in the north-eastern Jilin province and an impact area in the far western Sinjian region, some 4,700km distant. Portugal is to receive additional ex- German Air Force G.91s free of charge. Luftwaffe G.91s are being progressively replaced by Alpha Jets. Israel is to receive 100 GBU-15 cruci form-wing glide bombs. A further 22 will go to the US Air Force for infra red guidance tests. The sales are worth $25 million to Rockwell Inter national. A CH-47 Chinook of the 20Sth Aviation Com pany, US Army, delivers an obsolete Belgian Air Force T-33 to the USAF base at Alconbury. The T-33, originally supplied to the Belgians under the 1950s Military Aid Programme, will be used to train USAF maintenance crews
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