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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 2611.PDF
HEADLINES nd/ATR Brussels erate Bombardier, which owns Canadair and had earlier with drawn interest in Boeing de Hav- illand, describes the result as "a new reality", but declines to discuss its next move. Canadair manufactures the 50-seat Re gional Jet. This ATR proposal is the first in more than 50 which are to be refused by the EC under new anti-trust regulations. The deci sion was taken after "exhaustive analysis, following extensive enquiries" and was backed by a majority of the commissioners who voted. • Naval Rafale to catapult test in USA The prototype of the Dassault Rafale M naval variant will undergo catapult and ski-jump tests at the US Navy's Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River. Dassault project pilot Yves Kerherve, speaking to the Soci ety of Experimental Test Pilots, says that the Rafale M will be catapult-launched at a ski-jump starting 3m from the launch end of the catapult track. The 10m- long "jump", to be used on the carrier Foch, is inclined at only 1.5° compared with the 15°jump used by Royal Navy Harriers, which are not catapulted. Kerherve quotes the gain in take-off performance as equiva lent to a 2@Kt gain in launch airspeed or 2t extra payload. On the nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle, now building, the same aircraft performance will be achieved by using a more powerful catapult and fitting a specially modified nose leg that will extend at the end of the catapult track. Use of this jump strut alone is worth only 9kt or 0.9t payload and was not an option on Foch. The inclined ramp and jump-strut cannot be used together to launch from Foch as the combination would overstress the aircraft. Four separate sets of Rafale M pre-embarkation trials are sched uled for dummy deck installa tions in the USA, starting in July 1992. Dassault has never had to do dummy deck trials in the USA before; for previous dummy-deck trials the company used the catapult and arrester gear at the UK's Royal Aerospace Establishment at Bedford, but this was rendered obsolete by the Sea Harrier and was removed. • A340 heralds long-range competition Roll-out of the Airbus Indus trie A340 on 4 October co incided with a firm order for seven A330s from Korean Air, bringing the total order book for the two types to more than 250 aircraft. Korean also placed op tions on a further eight A330s. The 295-seat A340-300 (the shorter -200 rolls out later this year) is the seventh aircraft type to roll off the Airbus production line, at Toulouse. It is Europe's first four-engined widebody, and the first to exceed 225t maxi mum take-off weight. Aimed at extremely long- range routes which do not jus tify, the passenger capacity of a Boeing 747, the A340 and its sister aircraft the twin-engined medium/long-range A330, cost $3.5 billion to develop. Certifi cation is set for the end of 1992, with deliveries (to Lufthansa) beginning in January 1993. Total A340 orders currently stand at 110 aircraft. The biggest customer to-date is Northwest Airlines, with 24 aircraft. The A330 and 340 compete principally with Boeing's 777 and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. The battle between Boe ing and Airbus (which has dis placed McDonnell Douglas for Airbus parades its A340 ready for roll-out second place in the airliner sales league) sharpened recently with British Airways' order for the 777. Several major airlines are expected to announce their choice of medium/long-range aircraft in the coming months. The new aircraft are assem bled in the recently completed $1 billion Clement Ader build ing at Toulouse, using robots for the first time to drill the 3,500 wing/fuselage rivet holes, and for joining forward and rear fuselage sections. Construction is more modular than before which confers extra flexibility on production flow. A340 power unit is the CFM56-5 turbofan which, at a potential thrust of 150kN (34,0001b), is the most powerful version of the engine yet devel oped. Airbus has said that it will need more powerful engines^lor the A340-400X, which ' will; be stretched by 12 fuselage frarries. General Electric, Snecma, Pjatt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce are all understood to be studying engines in the appropriate thrust range. • USA twists Israel's arms programmes to gain Arrow deal Heavy pressure from the USA has made Israel sign the missile technology control re gime (MTCR) treaty. Israel's re luctance to sign the treaty caused problems in the funding of some joint US/Israeli pro grammes, particularly the Arrow anti-tactical ballistic missile sys tem and threatened to block Israel from tendering for US military contracts. As first reported in Flight In ternational (5 June 1991, P 4), the USA's demand was a precon dition to the funding of the second phase of the Arrow pro gramme. The Strategic Defense Initiative-funded programme gave the USA an unprecedented opportunity to judge some as pects of Israeli missile technol ogy- Recently, the US Congress in creased its pressure on the administration to act rapidly in order to make Israel accept the technology transfer limitations that are part of the MTCR treaty. In earlier talks Israel had agreed in principle to join the treaty by the end of 1992. During a recent visit to the USA, senior Israeli ministry of defence officials were told that any further delay in joining the treaty might cause problems for Israel's defence in dustry. Shortly afterwards Israel signed the treaty. • France orders Tucano France has signed an order with Brazilian manufacturer Embraer for two EMB-312 Tu cano trainers with options on another 25 in a Fr720 million ($120 million) contract, follow ing three years negotiation. The French Air Force requires 50 Tucanos to replace its Fouga CM. 170 Magisters. The deal is an offset for 36 Aerospatiale SA.365K Dauphins and 16 HP.350 Ecureuils bought by the Brazilian Army and 30 Ecureuils for the Navy. Negotiations were prolonged as France considered the Pilatus PC-9 in return for the Swiss buying Dassault Mirage 2000s. D FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 9 - 15 October, 1991 5
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