All Fixed-Wing news – Page 1249
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UAV
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is without question the most experienced of armed services when it comes to the operational utilisation of tactical unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). Deployed in earnest during the Bekaa Valley in 1982, the UAV is well established in the IDF's armoury. There is little sign ...
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Facing the future
Fifty years into their lives, the Israeli air force and the country's defence aerospace industry are confronted by a rapidly changing strategic environment and industrial challenges as the global defence market restructures. In the first five decades of their existence both have proved adept at meeting these. As Israel begins ...
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Lockheed Martin faces last hurdle to C-130J certification
Lockheed Martin has dispatched a C-130J Hercules 2 to Argentina for natural icing tests, the last major hurdle before civil certification of the military transport. The US company plans to begin delayed deliveries of the upgraded Hercules "in the third quarter", but says the exact timing will depend on the ...
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Copper drop may tarnish Chile plans
Bidders are still hoping for a Chilean fighter decision by the end of June, despite the certainty of a cut in the armed forces' procurement budget because of falling copper prices. Boeing, Dassault, Lockheed Martin and Saab submitted best and final offers for between 12 and 24 aircraft in late ...
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Boeing begins early Apache upgrade work
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES The US Army has awarded Boeing a contract which could form the first element of a comprehensive upgrade to keep the AH-64 Apache competitive well into the 21st century. The company is to undertake a four-year, $15.9 million, project to design, build and flight test a ...
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Pratt & Whitney gets closer to ground testing F119 for JSF
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Pratt & Whitney has mounted the modified F119 engine for Lockheed Martin's X-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) concept demonstrator in a test stand at its West Palm Beach, Florida, site ready to begin ground testing. Ground testing of the modified F119 powerplant for Boeing's X-32 ...
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Bidders jostle for South Korean attack helicopter
South Korea's renewed drive to meet a longstanding army requirement for an attack helicopter has drawn responses from seven Russian, South African, US and Western European aerospace manufacturers. The South Korean defence ministry has given rival helicopter suppliers until 24 August to submit initial proposals. The Government expects to ...
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Belgium's air force receives F-16A pod
The Belgian air force has taken delivery of the first of eight modular reconnaissance pods for use on its Lockheed Martin F-16As, to restore the capability lost by the phasing out in 1993 of Dassault Mirage 5BRs. The first two pods are equipped for low altitude reconnaissance missions. The ...
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Russia lifts veil on plans for new generation combat aircraft
Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW The Russian air force has undertaken a review of its combat aircraft requirements and inventory specifications for the next century and will sell aircraft. New air force Commander-in-chief Col Gen Anatoly Kornukov says the work has allowed Moscow to determine its priorities on aircraft such as the next ...
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UAVs on the horizon
Vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicles are just one class of pilotless aircraft capturing the imagination of military forces, entrepreneurs and scientists. UAV manufacturers hope that enthusiasm will be translated into an economic boom. Although primarily viewed as an instrument for the military, civil applications of UAVs are expected ...
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Ready for launch
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Events taking place 10,000km (6,200 miles) apart could prove pivotal to the long-awaited deployment by military forces of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). US Navy officials now believe that VTOLUAV technology is mature enough for the service to begin equipping its warships ...
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Lynton Group bids for Air Hanson
US general aviation company Lynton Group is in talks to acquire UK company Air Hanson. The aircraft charter and maintenance operation is being sold by its parent company, Hanson, as part of a wider restructuring. If successful, the sale will be the third acquisition this year for the Morristown, ...
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US Army to decide soon on Cobra safety issue
The US Army is expected to decide by 19 June whether its 400 Bell Helicopter AH-1S Cobra gunships must be inspected for a safety problem that grounded over 900 UH-1 light utility helicopters in May, according to Brig Gen Robert Armbruster, the US Army Aviation and Missile Command's deputy for ...
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Dassault confirms BAe fighter link
Dassault Aviation president Serge Dassault has confirmed that it is to form a joint company with British Aerospace to study future combat aircraft, and that it is also looking at ways of separating its military and civil businesses in preparation for the merger of the defence side with Aerospatiale. ...
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F-16 manufacturing time is reduced
Lockheed Martin has demonstrated a significant reduction in manufacturing time for the F-16, using commercial practices. The first of 12 to be produced for Singapore under a commercial lease agreement has been delivered less than 22 months after contract signature. This compares with the normal lead time of 36-42 months, ...
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Guardian crashes as rival misses deadline
Bombardier's CL-327 Guardian vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle (VTOLUAV) crashed on 10 June at the Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona, after completing a flight test programme for the US Department of Defense (DoD). The Guardian is believed to be a total loss. Bombardier had completed the 50h of ...
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Production standstill forces Grob to reduce workforce
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Aircraft production at Grob Aerospace's Mindelheim plant in Germany has ground to a halt through lack of orders, forcing the company to reduce its workforce to just over 40. Grob says that up to 80 engineers have been transferred to its successful machine tool manufacturing operation, but can ...
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ECR delivery
The Italian air force has officially taken delivery of the first of 15 Panavia Tornado ECRs. The aircraft, assigned to the 155 Groupo of the 50th Wing in Piacenza San Damianmo in northern Italy, will undertake suppression of enemy air defences and electronic reconnaissance. Deliveries of the aircraft will be ...
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RTM322 Apache makes first flight
The Rolls-Royce Turboméca RTM322-powered Boeing AH-64D Apache attack helicopter made its maiden flight from Boeing's plant in Mesa, Arizona, on 29 May. The flight lasted 35min, with a range of engine handling manoeuvres being flown, from the hover to 100kt (185km/h) forwards and up to 45kt sideways, says GKN ...
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US Air National Guard confronts F-16 shortage as fleet ages
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC US Air Force reserve forces are facing a shortage of Lockheed Martin F-16s as early models of the fighter reach the end of their service life, according to Maj Gen Paul Weaver, director of the Air National Guard (ANG). "I am very concerned about the ...