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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 3176.PDF
HEADLINES NEWS IN BRIEF • TU-144TEST TheTupolevTu-144LL(RA- 77114), reactivated for joint US-Russian supersonic test flights, was scheduled to have its first flight on 29 November from the Zhukovsky flight test centre near Moscow.The aircraft (RA-77114) has been restored to flying condition after some ten years in stor- age.The aircraft will under take around six months of testing in support of the NASA High Speed Research programme. • NOISE CHALLENGE The International Air Tran sport Association is to seek a judicial review of new noise limits set to be imposed at London's three main airports from 1 January (Flight Inter national, 4-10 September, P4). The organisation says that it has had to take a "rare and reluctant step", following the failure of its "... continued efforts to re-open meaningful dialogue with the UK Department of Transport". • TURKEY KILLS COBRA Turkey has abandoned plans to purchase an additional ten Bell Helicopter AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters from the US Department of Defense. Concluding the acquisition had been hampered by US politicians concerned that the helicopters might be used against Kurdish "rebels" in the south-east of the country. Turkey's pulling out of the deal is thought to have been a result of the delays. • DELTA DROPS MDC Delta has decided not to short-list McDonnell Doug las as a candidate to supply up to 27 widebodied aircraft, which will partially replace its fleet of 50 Lockheed Tri- Stars. The choice now lies between Airbus Industrie and Boeing, with the A3 30/ A3 40 and Boeing 777 and a new version of the 767 under evaluation. Iran and China negotiate FB-7/F-SIIM fighter deal IRAN IS CONSIDERING the purchase of the Chinese Xian FB-7 strike aircraft, the Shenyang F-8IIM and Chengdu F-7 fighters, as part of a multi-billion dollar arms deal it is negotiating with Beijing. Talks between Beijing and Teh ran to cement the $4.5 billion deal have been progressing for several months, say sources. The deal, if concluded successfully, is likely to prove one of China's biggest single foreign-arms sales. Anti-ship mis siles and submarines are also in cluded in the package. The deal would considerably bolster the capability of the Iranian air force, which operates a mixed fleet of Western and Russian com bat aircraft. In recent years, Iran had looked to Russia for combat aircraft, buying the MiG-29 Fulcrum, but the USA has been exerting pressure on Russia to stop such sales. The potential sale of the FB-7 marks a considerable reversal of fortune for the aircraft. Originally F-8IIM: aimed at Iran intended as a strike aircraft for the Chinese air force and navy, its development has been dogged by problems, with the air force appar ently deciding against operating the type. The F-8IIM is being developed with Russian assistance and is understood always to have been intended for the export market. The aircraft is fitted with a deriva tive of the Phazotron N-010 Zhuk multi-mode pulse-Doppler radar, originally developed for the Mik- oyan MiG-29M Fulcrum. The radar is capable of supporting the Vympel R-27R (AA-10 Alamo A) semi-active radar-guided missile, and active radar-guided missiles. The F-8HM can also carry the Zvezda Kh-31 (AS-17 Krypton) air-to-surface missile. It is not known whether a Chinese licence- built anti-ship variant of this mis sile, possibly designated the YT-12A, is included in the package or if the weapon under discussion is the indigenously designed Y] -2. Development of the two-seat FB-7 has been under way since at least 1988. The programme has been hampered for years by a lack ofsuitable modern powerplant, but it now appears China may have revived its original plan to fit the aircraft with the Xian WS9 — a locally produced variant of the Rolls-Royce Spey. • R-R offers Trent/-524 hybrid retrofit option ROLLS-ROYCE HAS offered operators of RB.211-524G/ H-powered Boeing 747-400s and 767s the option to retrofit their engines with the core of the Trent 700, in an effort to offset higher- than-expected fuel-consumption degradation and reliability prob lems in the existing powerplants. R-R recently accelerated devel opment work on the so-called "hybrid", following encouraging results from initial tests. It is ex pected to provide a 2.5 % reduction in fuel consumption and signifi cantly improved reliability, com pared with that of the -524G/H. British Airways has yet to select an engine for 14 recently ordered 747-400s. The hybrid is being offered to power these aircraft. The retrofit option has been tabled partly because B A wants to main tain engine commonality across its 747-400 and 767 fleets. Despite this, BA is understood to have told R-R that the retrofit programme, which could cost over $2 million an engine, is too expensive. Cathay Pacific is also dis cussing retrofitting its 21 747- 400s with the Trent 700/-524 Trent is R-R's core business hybrid, although the issue of cost has not been resolved. Cathay is also insisting that R-R must demonstrate that its performance promises for the hybrid are achievable before the airline will commit to the retrofit pro gramme, which would take two to three years to complete. R-R confirms that it has ".. .been in discussion on this [retrofit] pos sibility with several operators". The hybrid integrates the high- pressure (HP) core of the Trent 700, consisting of die HP compres sor, combustor and turbine, with an otherwise standard -524G/H production engine. R-R has been under intense pressure from oper ators to solve problems with the -524's HP turbine blades, follow- ingseveral failures. These are grad ually being replaced with single- crystal blades. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4 - 10 December 1996
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