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Aviation History
1992
1992 - 1307.PDF
HEADLINES Argentina cleared by USA to buy A-4M Skyhawks The Pentagon has confirmed that the USA is negotiating the possible sale of McDonnell Douglas (MDC) A-4 Skyhawks to Argentina. Argentinian president Carlos Menem says that the USA has agreed to let Argentina acquire 36 of the final production A-4M version of the aircraft after an arms embargo ended. The US Department of De fense says only that "a medium- size number" of aircraft is under discussion. Pentagon sources in dicate that they would probably be ex-US Navy. Newspaper re ports suggest some were ex- Kuwaiti A-4s being returned to the USA in a deal involving the supply of MDC F-18 Hornets. In 1982, Israel agreed to sell Argentina 24 surplus Skyhawks, but the deal was blocked by the USA after Argentina had paid. Israel is believed subsequently to have provided alternative equipment to Argentina and sold at least some of the aircraft to another customer. Nevertheless, an Israeli Ministry of Defence official says: "The door is now open and we have to decide whether to use it." • French air force faces reduction in numbers BY GILBERT SEDBON IN PARIS The French air force is to reduce its combat aircraft numbers by 13% to 390 over the next two years. The decision, announced by Gen Vincent Lanata, the air force chief of staff, brings to an end more than a decade of opposition by the service to any cuts below a front-line force of 450 aircraft, which has been regarded as a "strict minimum". Lanata, appointed to his posi tion at the end of 1991 with a remit to restructure the air force, is also proposing to close air- bases. Defending the cutbacks, Lanata says: "The quantitative reduction will have to be com pensated by a qualitative im provement of aircraft in service to give our combat squadrons uprated operational value." Other than the Rafale combat aircraft, not expected to enter service before 1998, the air force is receiving 45 Mirage F.lCTs (interceptor aircraft upgraded for a ground-attack role), the Mirage 2000 D and possibly the P&W TESTS NASP SCALE ENGINE Pratt & Whitney has tested a one-eighth-scale engine for the US National AeroSpace Plane (NASP) at a simulated Mach 5 for 30s. The photograph shows the ramjetJscramjet used in the test at the Aerojet Hypersonic Test Facility. P&W collaborated with NASP team member Rocketdyne to design, fabricate and test the multiple-flowpath engine. new Mirage 2000-5 radar fighter. Lanata also declares that air force manpower will drop from today's 91,700 men and women to 88,000 by 1997 — a reduc tion of 3.4%. In spite of the cutbacks in other areas, Lanata admits that the air force lacks modern trans port aircraft. "The European Eu- roflag transport aircraft is a possible successor to the Tran- sall, but that does not prevent us purchasing, as soon as possible, a number of transport aircraft to make up for the most flagrant present-day shortages." D NEWS IN BRIEF NACES LIFE SAVER The Martin-Baker Navy Air crew Common Ejection Seat (NACES) had its first emer gency use on 15 May, when a US Navy pilot ejected suc cessfully from a McDonnell Douglas (MDC) F-18D Hor net which he was flying solo over Florida. The ejection was the first to be carrie out using a microprocessor-controlled ejection seat. Martin-Baker has delivered 350 NACES seats to the US Navy, which are being fitted to Grumman F-14D Tomcats and MDC T- 45 Goshawk trainers. The first NACES ejection brings the total number of lives saved by Martin-Baker ejec tion seats to 6,140. BAe to slim down 146 production British Aerospace may limit production of its BAe 146 regional jets as orders in the market remain depressed. Only 18 aircraft are due to roll off the assembly line at Woodford in 1992, and plans for expansion, following the closure of the Hatfield line in March, are now on ice. The airframe manufacturer delivered 30 new-build aircraft in 1990, 26 in 1991 and only two so far this year. Actual production rates for these years are unknown. "What we have to do now is fight our way through this year and the next,"'says Mike Turner, managing director of the newly reorganised Regional Aircraft group, which includes the BAe 146, jet and ATP and Jetstream turboprops. Turner confirms that BAe is talking to other manufacturers in the heavily over-subscribed regional-jet market, and does not rule out co-operation in any new alliance emerging Trom the rationalisation talks now going on in the European market. BAe has already said that it', will not embark on any new project, including the proposed 130-seat regional jet, without partners. "We have to watch what hap pens in the 130-seat sector, but the longer we can put off new investment the better," he says, eanwhile, BAe continues its efforts to cut costs and improve response times at BAe's Woodford ATP and 146 assem bly lines. Consultant engineers are looking at ways to reduce the number of man hours needed to assemble the BAe 146 and improve links between de sign and production engineering for the ATP. • Hungary denies Gripen rumours The Hungarian air force has denied reports published in the Swedish press that it is inter ested in buying up to 26 Saab JAS39 Gripens. The service says: "It is totally- false — we will make no deci sion in the near future on air craft procurement. Parliament has not yet decided on its con cept of a new armed forces setup. When it has, we can study a new military procurement pro gramme." The parliamentary study will probably be released later this year. Saab says it has given a Gripen background brief ing to Hungarian foreign trade minister Bala Kadar, but con firms that "...nothing concrete arose from it". • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 27 May - 2 June, 1992 7
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