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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 3288.PDF
HEADLINES Soviet nuclear forces change BY ALEXANDER VELOVICH IN MOSCOW T he former Soviet Union, reorganised in part as the Commonwealth of Independ ent States (CIS), has restruc tured the Soviet Strategic Forces following a decision by the State Council, a ruling body comprising the republic presidents, to preserve a uni tary command for strategic armed forces in particular. The new command is called the Strategic Deterrent Forces (SDF) and is based on the former Strategic Ballistic Mis sile Troops, but now includes the early-warning defence sys tems, anti-ballistic missile de fences, space observation and space troops units. The SDF is commanded by General of the Army Yuriy Maksimov. Although strategic bombers and missile submarines are not part of the SDF, they come under its control. On 12 December the Ukraine Republic's president, Leonid Kravchuk, appointed himself commander of all non-strategic ground forces and naval units. The move is allowed by a clause in the CIS agreement giving the right to form armed forces from non- strategic forces based on the signatories' territories. • Boeing invests for Siberian airport Boeing is to spend $500,000 of its own- money to com plete a design study for a new airport at Novosibirsk in Siberia. Boeing handed over project documentation to regional au thorities on 9 December for the proposed airport. The airport would be able to handle 14 million passengers and 112 mil lion tonnes of cargo annually. Novosibirsk is "perfectly" situated to take advantage of new proposed routes which would cut flying time signifi cantly on international flights from Europe to Asia. • Japan seeks international risk-sharers on YSX-75 BY JOHN BAILEY IN TOKYO The Japan Aircraft Develop ment (JADC) is looking for foreign risk-sharing partners to develop its proposed 75-seat YSX-75B regional jet. The company, a consortium of Japan's top aerospace manufac turers, has held preliminary talks with "all of the major European and US manufactur ers" and with Far Eastern re gional companies, including Indonesia's IPTN, Singapore Aerospace and Hawker de Havil- land of Australia. JADC has not fixed any targets for a foreign share of the estimated $1 billion development costs. Nobuyuki Fujita, senior general manager for the YSX, says: "Everything can be negotiated. The percent age depends on how many part ners join such a programme." JADC completed a two-year feasibility study in January and the project is now in the "pre- development phase". The com pany studied a range of configurations between 50 and 100 seats but has settled on a 75-seat design, labelled the YSX- 75B, as the most likely can didate. Pre-development, which includes "the fundamental de sign of the aircraft, total pro gramme planning and prepara tion of candidates for interna tional partners" is expected to take up to three years, with the aircraft entering service around 1998 Fujita says. Although parallel studies of different configurations are still continuing, the baseline YSX- 75B is intended to be a direct competitor for large turboprops, such as the British Aerospace ATP and the Saab 2000, with lower direct operating costs, higher speed and a larger operat ing radius. Fujita says studies of US regional airliner operations show an optimum round-trip time of 3h, which limits turbo- props to a radius of about 500km (270nm) while jets can cover 830km. Maximum range of the YSX-75B will be at least 1,850km (l,000nm) as it will have a cruising speed of Mach Beechjet 400 hits mountain in cloud ABeechjet 400 business jet crashed in poor visibility shortly after take-off from Rome, Georgia, USA, on 11 December, killing all nine passengers and crew. The wreckage was found some 100ft (30m) from the sum mit of l,700ft-high Lavender Mountain which was shrouded by low cloud at the time of the accident. The aircraft's cockpit voice recorder was recovered. The Beechjet, N25BR built in 1989, belonged to Alabama- based BR Air, a subsidiary of the Bruno's supermarket chain. Five senior Bruno's executives were killed in the crash. The aircraft took off from Rome's Russell Airport at 09.37 local time, bound for Huntsville, Alabama. It entered cloud at around 1,000ft soon after take-off. In vestigators say the Beechjet had turned back for the airport and was descending through cloud when it hit the mountain, 22km (12nm) north-west of Rome. Beech says the crash is the first fatal accident involving the Beechjet or its predecessor, the Mitsubishi Diamond. There are some 170 Beechjet/Diamond business jets now in service. • A Las Vegas Airlines Piper Navajo Chieftain crashed into a mountain in poor visibility on 10 December, killing the pilot and four passengers. The aircraft was returning from a sightseeing tour of the Grand Canyon when it came down near Mount Wilson, 50km east of Las Vegas. Rain and snow hampered the search for the aircraft which disappeared from radar at 16.00 local time. • MARINE RAFALE MAKES MAIDEN FLIGHT Dassault's naval Rafale prototype M0I made its maiden flight from Istres on 13 December. During the Ih sortie, flown by Dassault chief test pilot Yves Kerherve, the aircraft reached a speed of Mach 1.4 and altitude of 42,000ft (12,800m). Dassault says all systems performed correctly. The naval Rafale has reinforced landing gear, with a catapult attachment on the nose leg, and an arrester hook. M01 is to carry out dummy-deck landing and catapult/ski-jump tests at the US Naval Air Test Center, before sea trials on the French carrier, Foch, in 1993. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 18 - 24 December, 1991
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