All Fixed-Wing news – Page 1275
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Turkey eyes Phalcon for AEW requirement
The Turkish air force has evaluated the Elta Phalcon airborne-early-warning (AEW) aircraft, and has asked for detailed proposals for the purchase of up to four aircraft. The service has been briefed on the Phalcon and, according to some Israeli sources, it had a chance to evaluate its capabilities ...
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UK contracts out helicopter training
In what is the first major contract awarded under the UK Ministry of Defence's Private Finance Initiative, the Royal Air Force is to farm out aircrew training for its fleet of medium-support helicopters to CVS Aircrew Training, which is a consortium of CAE Electronics of Canada and UK companies Vega ...
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New Zealand air force delays CT4 upgrade plans
New Zealand has delayed plans to upgrade the Royal New Zealand Air Force's (RNZAF) CT4B primary-trainer fleet by replacing its 17 155kW (210hp) trainers with the later 225kW CT4E variant. The RNZAF has instead named the CT4's manufacturer, Hamilton-based Pacific Aerospace (PACL), as preferred tenderer for all levels ...
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Italian defence budget favours procurement
The Italian defence ministry has attempted to ring-fence key procurements in its planned 1998 budget, with personnel cuts and shorter tour lengths preferred to cutting acquisition projects. Funding for the Eurofighter EF2000 is set at L1.169 billion ($678 million), out of a total defence budget of L31,000 billion. ...
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TAG wins Farnborough lease
Techniques d'Avant-Garde (TAG) Group to is to convert the UK's Farnborough Aerodrome into a dedicated business-aviation airport following the decision by the UK Ministry of Defence to award the Luxembourg-based holding company a 99-year lease. The aerodrome, which will continue to be the venue for the biennial Farnborough ...
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Clinton veto scuttles ASAT/SR-71
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and the development of a kinetic-energy anti-satellite (KE-ASAT) kill vehicle (KKV) have fallen foul of US President Clinton, who used the "line-item veto" to scrap funding for both. The funds were cut as Clinton revised the $248 billion fiscal year 1998 defence spending bill. ...
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US military starts Huey re-engine project
The US Army National Guard has initiated the long-awaited programme to re-engine 131 ageing Bell Helicopter UH-1 light utility helicopters with Light Helicopter Turbine Engine (LHTEC) T800 turboshafts. The initial engine certification work, which covers the installation of LHTEC CTS800-54 engines in two UH-1s, will be paid for ...
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Chek Lap Kok Airport. David...
Chek Lap Kok Airport. David Solloway becomes general manager for India, replacing Richard Snyder, who is to retire. Solloway was formerly divisional manager of marketing and sales for Pacific South, based in Hong Kong. Bruce Kerr, formerly controller for Pacific South, is named divisional manager of marketing and sales for ...
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Sikorsky flies first fleet-support CH-60
Sikorsky has flown the first CH-60 fleet combat-support helicopter for the US Navy. The aircraft is a hybrid between the UH-60 Black Hawk transport and SH-60 Seahawk naval helicopters, and combines the UH-60 airframe with the SH-60 dynamic system, blade and tail folding and automatic flight-control system. The ...
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Upgraded F-16 goes to Netherlands air force
The Royal Netherlands Air force received the first production Lockheed Martin F-16 mid-life upgrade (MLU) aircraft at Leeuwarden air base at the end of September. The aircraft has been assigned to the operational test and evaluation team at the base, pending the start of the conversion of the first squadron, ...
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Russian forces exercise their nuclear muscles
Russia's strategic missile forces, navy and air force units carried out a large-scale nuclear-weapons exercise on 3 October, including the launch of land-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and air-launched cruise missiles. Cruise missiles were launched from Tupolev Tu-22M3 Backfire, Tu-95MSBear and Tu-160 Blackjack bombers as part of the ...
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Comanche out
The Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche helicopter has been pulled from the $3 billion competition to supply Turkey with more than 100 advanced attack helicopters. The company says that the Comanche is no longer a contender as it will not be in production in time to meet Turkey's procurement schedule. Boeing ...
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Gatwick Avionics snaps up competitor Thurston
UK general-aviation company Gatwick Avionics (Redhill) has acquired rival Thurston Avionics for an undisclosed sum. The Stapleford-based company will continue to operate under its existing title for the time being. According to Tony Okill, managing director and co-owner of Gatwick Avionics, however, it will be "-renamed Gatwick Avionics (Stapleford) at ...
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USAplans strike-UCAV demonstration
Plans to demonstrate an unmanned combat air-vehicle (UCAV) capable of air-defence suppression and mobile-target attack have been unveiled by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This is the first major programme to be launched involving UCAVs. A $125 million advanced-technology demonstration is planned by DARPA and ...
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USAF F-22 award
The US Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin $1.2 billion as part of a restructured F-22 Raptor engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) effort. The USAF says that the award is in response to recommendations from the Joint Estimate Team (JET), formed to guard against cost overruns in the advanced tactical ...
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Cash problems put Chengdu FC-1 in holding pattern
China's Chengdu FC-1 lightweight fighter project is on hold until at least 1998, because of a shortage of funding and continuing Chinese and Pakistani air force wavering on support for the programme. The Pakistani air force has made procurement of the single-engine FC-1 fighter contingent on the Chinese ...
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Sukhoi continues S-32 flight tests
Sukhoi has carried out at least three test lights of its still-classified forward-swept-wing next-generation fighter since late September. Flight tests of the Sukhoi S-32, exclusively revealed in Flight International (8-14 October), have included at least one test in which the pilot, Iogor Votintsev, retracted the undercarriage. The S-32, ...
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Persistent ambitions
Unmanned combat-aircraft are coming, but they will not be going into battle any time in the too-near future. Harsh lessons learned developing relatively simple and inexpensive unmanned air-vehicles (UAVs) have made manufacturers and operators alike extremely cautious in planning the introduction of more costly and sophisticated uninhabited combat air-vehicles (UCAVs). ...
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JSF demonstrators enter manufacturing stage
Boeing and Lockheed Martin are close to "cutting metal" for their respective Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) concept-demonstrator aircraft. So far, Boeing has produced trial sections of thermoplastic-composite wing skin, while Lockheed Martin has received a composite inlet-duct test article produced by subcontractor Alliant Techsystems. The wing lay-up mandrel ...
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Sukhoi
Sukhoi has flown its secret S-32 forward-swept-wing fighter aircraft. The test flight took place on 1 October from the Gromov Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky, near Moscow. The S-32, or S-37 project as it may now be known, remains shrouded in secrecy, with Sukhoi unwilling to discuss the project. ...