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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 0277.PDF
]JEADLJM±i; An-140 to be produced in Iran ALEXANDER VELOVICH/MOSCOW T RAN HAS SIGNED A DEAL J. with Ukraine for the licence production of the Antonov An-140 twin-turboprop, the Ukrainian Ministry of Machine Building has confirmed. Production is to be undertaken in Isfahan, Iran, where an aircraft-manufacturing plant will be completed with Ukrainian assistance. Two prototypes of the An-140, one for flight tests and another for static-airframe load tests, are being built at the Antonov plant in Kiev. The first flight is planned for later this year. Antonov refuses to give a more specific date, saying that it will de pend on "availability of full-scale financing for the programme". The wing centre-section has been attached to the fuselage of the first airframe in the assembly rig. Wings for the prototypes are being manufactured at the Khar kov KhAPO aircraft-production plant, where series production is intended to start in 1998. Another site under consideration for series production is the Yuzhmash plant in Dnepropetrovsk, a manufactur er of intercontinental ballistic mis siles and space boosters. The assembly line in Isfahan could get under way in 1999. Initially, assembly will be undertak en with components delivered from Ukraine. Local production of parts and components will gradual ly be taken up in Iran. The overall cost of the Iranian project — including construction of the fac tor)' — is said to be S4 billion. Most of it will be paid for in Iranian oil. The An-140 is a high-wing regional airliner intended to replace ageing An-24s still in oper ation worldwide. Its range is quot ed at 2,000km (l,100nm) with 40 passengers, or 1,000km with 52 passengers, at a cruise speed of 300-325kt(550-600km/h). The aircraft is to be powered bv two TV3-117VMA-SB2 turbo- props rated at l,380kW (l,850hp) and will be produced at die Motor- Sich plant in the Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye. 3 UK delays Swanwick opening by one year THE OPENING OF the new en route air-traffic-control cen tre for England and Wales has been delayed until December 1997, says the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The £3 50 million ($530 million) Swanwick Centre, near Fareham, Hampshire, has been plagued by problems with integrating the air- traffic-management system's 2 mil lion lines of software, which are needed to operate 23 subsystems. Derek McLauchlan, chief exec utive of the CAA's National Air Traffic Services (NATS), says that he is "very disappointed", but, while it would be "...greatly desir able to keep on schedule", NATS also has to "...give way to the absolute imperative of maintaining safety standards". McLauchlan declines to say how much the delay will cost, but he says that this will be "manageable within existing budgets". He says that Loral, as prime contractor, will not face penalty clauses, but "...will not receive payment until the sys tem passes a series of tests". The technical problems stem from some of the software being incompatible with the computers. The CAA will have to upgrade several systems at the London Area & Terminal Control Centre at West Drayton, London, to cope with increased traffic levels. • Germany reprieves Strato 2C ANDRZEJ JEZIORSKI/MUNICH THE GERMAN parliamentary budget committee has condi tionally voted to continue funding the Grob Strato 2C high-altitude research aircraft, rejecting research and technology minister Jiirgen Riittgers recommendation that the programme be scrapped and DM72 million ($50 million) of Gov ernment funding be returned (Flight International, 24-30 January). The 31 January decision repre sents a new lease of life for the pro gramme, although the possibility that manufacturer Burkhart Grob will have to repay part of the fund ing remains. How much the Gov ernment will demand is unclear, but Grob will get DM47 million of fresh money to bring the current proof-of-concept aircraft up to mission standards with preliminary type certification. Grob must now come up with a new contract to be agreed with the German Aerospace Research Es tablishment. Talks will begin im mediately. • The new contract must meet certain conditions laid down by die technology ministry. These in clude price guarantees, monitoring of technical and administrative procedures by a third party, firm timescales and milestones, and staggering further funding accord ing to proven performance. Grob has also had to accept Government demands for a return of funds. Future income from tech nology developed for the pro gramme will have to be set against development funds paid by the Government. Grob will re-employ 60 Strato 2C workers who had been made redundant. In all, Grob gave notice to 131 staff at the end of 1995 because of uncertainty over the Strato's future. • NEWS IN BRIEF • HAWAIIAN RESCUED Hawaiian Airlines has com pleted a $20 million equity- for-stock deal with Airline Investors Partnership and re lated agreements with major creditor American Air lines to reschedule $10 million in deferred lease and main tenance payments, as well as agreeing with its employees to reduce costs by $5 million annually over four years. • CREW SELECTION A U$ astronaut and Russian cosmonaut have been named as part of the three-man crew to become the first to inhabit the International Space Station in May 1998. NASA mission specialist William Shepherd, Russia's Sergei Krikalev and an as- yet-unnamed Russian com mander will be launched aboard a Soyuz TM space craft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to establish initial man-tended occupa tion of the station. NASA and the Russian Space Agency have also agreed to fly two more Shuttle Mir Missions in 1998. US Army chooses Ultra for transport C ESSNA AIRCRAFT'S Cit ation V Ultra business jet has been selected by the US Army to fill the C-XX medium-range trans port aircraft mission. An initial award of $8.4 million will pay for two aircraft, contractor support for one year and training. Ultimately, the US Army will buy 35 aircraft over a five-year period. Cessna is teamed with DynCorp to provide on-site maintenance support and with FlightSafety International for pilot and me chanic training. The five-year con tract is worth over $1.2 billion. The C-XX procurement is part of the US Army's plan to cut the number of aircraft types from the 21 now operated by active US Army and reserve-forces aviation units to a handful of types by 2015. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 7 - 13 February 1996
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