All aerospace news – Page 1887
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News
Arianespace looks to halve Ariane 5 price
Julian Moxon/PARIS Arianespace is looking for cuts of up to 50% in the purchase price of its new Ariane 5 as part of its planned production order for up to 50 launchers. "We will negotiate the deal based on our cost-reduction objectives," says president, Jean-Marie Luton. The contract would ...
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Enhanced Skynet 4 launched
Tim Furniss/CAPE CANAVERAL The UK's Skynet 4D military-communications satellite was lofted into orbit by a three-stage Boeing Delta 2 booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 10 January. The launch was the first of 18 planned by the Delta this year and the first of 11 Matra Marconi Space ...
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Asia-Pacific pathfinders
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE The Asia-Pacific region has been at the forefront of promoting the new communications, navigation and surveillance/air-traffic-management (CNS/ ATM) system since the concept emerged in 1983. These efforts will begin to bear fruit in 1998, with the planned opening and start of trials on key new routes between Asia, ...
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Helibus speeds up
Graham Warwick/Stratford So little has been said about the S-92 Helibus programme since its 1995 launch that the sight of two near-complete prototypes at Sikorsky's Stratford, Connecticut, factory comes as something of a surprise. The wraps are coming off now - nine months before the first flight - in a ...
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Insurers warn on 1997
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Aviation insurers are again warning that they face a serious shortfall for 1997 following estimates which have put the cost of losses at close to $1.4 billion, despite a relatively encouraging year for air safety. The preliminary year-end figures from the UK Airclaims consultancy, widely used ...
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Britannia will rule carrier Blue Scandinavia after take-over
Andrew Chuter/LONDON CONTROL of Swedish charter operator Blue Scandinavia is to pass to Britannia Airways following the acquisition by Britannia's sister organisation, Thomson International, of Swedish tour operator Fritidsresor. The UK airline is also expanding its new charter operation in Germany. Thomson International, part of the Canadian-owned Thomson ...
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El Al takes MD-11 on short-term lease
El Al will boost its long- haul fleet later this year, with the lease of a Boeing MD-11 from World Airways. The MD-11ER will be introduced in June on an aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance lease from World. The aircraft will be operated for El Al through to October ...
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European Aviation buys two 747s from British Airways
European Aviation has concluded a deal worth an estimated $6 million to purchase two Boeing 747-100s from British Airways. The UK-based aircraft-trading and spares specialist is also close to finalising deals for other widebodied aircraft. The company, which has purchased the two 24-28-year-old 747s with their Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A ...
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Workshop
++ AMR Eagle's Regional Aircraft Maintenance Center, located at the former K I Sawyer AFB, Michigan, will perform C checks on 12 Aero International (Regional) (AI(R)) ATR 72s turboprops operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines. The work began in early December 1997, and each aircraft visit will last for between five ...
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Battle stations
Boeing's decision to continue the development of the former McDonnell Douglas MD-95, in the new guise of the 717, has effectively redrawn the battle lines in its war with Airbus Industrie. This takes the civil-aviation giants to a new battleground where their tussle for market supremacy can be continued. ...
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Going private
Tim Furniss/LONDON Thirty-seven years ago, a US Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down for flying over the former Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where the Space Age began with the launch of the Sputnik 1 on 4 October, 1957. Now the Cosmodrome is going private and very public. ...
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Raytheon teams with Jaguar to market special-edition King Air
Graham Warwick/DETROIT Raytheon and luxury-car manufacturer Jaguar have signed a marketing agreement under which the company is to produce a special edition of its Beech King Air twin-turboprop. The US manufacturer plans to produce a dozen Jaguar Special Edition King Air C90Bs in 1998. The first four have ...
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Airbus and Boeing take course for record production figures
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Airbus and Boeing are on course for record production levels in 1998, with the two manufacturers gearing up for a combined output of 785 aircraft. If achieved, production would improve on the peak of the last boom in 1991, when, along with McDonnell Douglas, the ...
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First Athena 2 sends Lunar Prospector to Moon
Tim Furniss/CAPE CANAVERAL NASA's Lunar Prospector was launched on its five-day mission to the Moon by the first Lockheed Martin Athena 2 booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 6 January. The Lunar Prospector, also built by Lockheed Martin, will be used to conduct an intensive one-year survey of the Moon ...
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Boeing firms up the flightdeck design of stretched 767-400
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing has completed the firm design configuration of the stretched 767-400ER, revealing an upgraded flightdeck and a new-look cabin based on the 777 interior design. The bulk of the design was fixed by September 1997, but airline pressure drove Boeing to conduct trade studies on the additional ...
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Boeing and Elbit join to rescue Polish Huzar project
In a deal brokered in Warsaw in the first week of January, the rival bidders for Poland's $600 million PZL-Swidnik Huzar helicopter, Boeing and Elbit, have agreed to participate jointly in the programme, a move aimed at breeching a political impasse. Sources in Israel and Poland confirm that Elbit ...
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Kelly Space completes Eclipse tow-launcher demonstration
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Kelly Space & Technology (KST) has completed the first large-scale demonstration of its "Eclipse" tow-launch technique at Edwards AFB, California using a US Air Force-supplied Lockheed C-141A and QF-106A. KST is developing a family of low-cost re-usable space launchers which will use the Eclipse technique ...
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First Mars soil samples to be collected
NASA's plans for the Mars Surveyor Orbiter 2 and Lander 2 missions, to be launched in 2001, include the collection of the first samples of Martian soil to be brought back to Earth on a later mission. The Orbiter 2 and Lander 2 missions will follow the Mars Surveyor Orbiter ...
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NASA report warns communicators
A joint NASA-National Science Foundation study of global trends in satellite-telecommunications systems and technology warns that "unless the industry carefully plans some of its more specialised offerings, there may be a costly shake-out due to overcapacity". More than 20 new satellite ventures offering specialised services, particularly the Ku-band, very-high-data-rate ...
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Rotary Revolution
Russian helicopter design bureaux Kamov and Mil are attempting to pull together their respective associated manufacturing plants. Mil, and the Ulan-Ude, Rostov, and Kazan production sites are planning to form Mil Helicopters. Kamov, meanwhile, is in discussions with the Arseneyev and Kumer-Tau factories to establish a joint enterprise. Source: ...