All Fixed-Wing news – Page 1292
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Cuts and thrust
The USA is facing significant order cuts, Europe is arguing about project launches, and Russia is in chaos, with procurement at a halt. That is situation normal for military-aircraft manufacturers in the 1990s. This year's Paris air show will once again be dominated by discussions of problematic programmes, ...
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Tour de force
Unlike the last two air shows at Paris, where the talk among military-engine makers was dominated by budget cutbacks, consolidation and survival, this year's discussions will welcome decisions to proceed with some military programmes. Leading the drive is the US/UK Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) which, as the US Department of ...
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European focus
EUROPE IS THE near-term focus for the flight-simulation industry, with several high-proÌle military programmes pending, and the region's commercial-aircraft industry planning new developments. Production contracts for the Dassault Rafale fighter and Eurocopter Tiger combat-helicopter are expected to be signed at Paris - and planning for the respective training ...
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CAE eyes military boom
CAE president John Caldwell says that the group is preparing to take a leading position in Europe's military-simulator sector as sales boom over the next five years, and will also consider re-entering the USA once an exclusion agreement signed with Hughes Electronics expires. Europe's military-simulator market is expected ...
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Fokker's SABCA share to be sold
Receivers at FOKKER Aircraft have decided to put the bankrupt company's 48.8%share in Belgian aerospace manufacturer SABCA up for sale. It is not yet clear whether the shares will be floated on the stock market or placed directly with an investor. SABCA says that there are "several" prospective ...
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Lockheed Martin to fly all-electric F-16
LOCKHEEDMARTIN has been cleared to proceed with modification of an F-16 to demonstrate the all-electric flight controls planned for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The Advanced Fighter Technology Integration (AFTI)/ F-16 will be modified in 1998 for flight tests starting in January 1999. The six-month, 60-flight demonstration, under ...
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Airbus will offer RAF early VC10 replacement option
Airbus Industrie is to offer to replace the Royal Air Force's Vickers VC10 tanker/ transport fleet as early as the turn of the century, more than a decade before the service originally planned to retire the aircraft. The consortium is preparing to submit an unsolicited proposal to the ...
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Turkish clearance
US manufacturers have been cleared to bid to provide Turkey with more than 100 advanced attack helicopters. The US Government says that it is in the US national security interest to provide assistance to Turkey. In 1996, political controversy over US concerns that they would be used against Kurdish civilians ...
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Paperwork holds up Il-103 sales
Russia's new light trainer, the Ilyushin Il-103, will realise its sales potential once outstanding certiÌcation paperwork issues are resolved, according to the aircraft's chief designer, Andrei Pupkov. The four-seat aircraft received Russian certiÌcation to AP-23 standards in February 1996, but to date just two aircraft have been delivered to customers, ...
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B-1B upgrade is accelerated
The US Air Force is pulling forward critical elements of its conventional-mission upgrade for the Rockwell B-1B bomber, to allow it to deploy the aircraft in the role earlier than originally anticipated. The fast-track plan involves the inegration of the Raytheon-made ALE-50 towed-decoy system (TDS) and the McDonnell ...
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UK launches new Strategic Defence Review
The UK Government has launched a Strategic Defence Review (SDR), expected to run for about six months, to re-examine the role, structure and equipment programme of the country's armed forces. The Government says that, with the exception of the Trident ballistic-missile submarine force, all programmes will be examined. ...
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Cuts threaten Japanese air force procurement projects
Japanese military-aircraft procurement plans face chaos because of pending cutbacks in defence expenditure within the next five-year mid-term plan. The Japan Defence Agency (JDA) is faced with having to make critical decisions on future acquisition priorities before the end of the current five-year plan in 2000. Included in ...
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USAoffers to switch two USAF JSTARS to NATO operations
NATO OFFICIALS have been briefed on the USA's "Fast Track" offer to provide two Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) aircraft off the US Air Force production line for the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) programme. The two E-8s would be paid for by the USA. ...
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ABL team holds missile-tracking talks with USN
The Boeing-led Airborne Laser (ABL) team is in talks with the US Navy over the collection of missile-tracking data using Northrop Grumman F-14Ds equipped with infra-red search and track (IRST) systems. The YA-1A laser platform, a converted Boeing 747-400F, will be fitted with six Lockheed Martin IRST sensors ...
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Air drop fatalities
Indonesia's IPTN lost its chief test pilot, Erwin Danoewinata, in a crash of a company CN-235 military transport aircraft. Erwin and five other crew died when the aircraft stalled on 22 May during a trial low-altitude cargo parachute drop. The company blames the crash on a failed parachute. Source: ...
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Sharing safety secrets
In the commercial air-transport world, systems for sharing safety data among airlines and across borders are under construction. The military community, with its more conservative culture, is lagging behind, but there are some signs that firm foundations for pro-active safety exchanges are being laid. Many safety-conscious and commercially ...
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Lockheed Martin tests joined-wing model
Lockheed Martin is flight-testing a scale model of a joined-wing tanker/transport being studied under its New Strategic Aircraft (NSA) project. Initial tests of the 1.98m-span radio-controlled model exhibited "excellent" flight characteristics and met or exceeded objectives, the company says. A joined-wing design would allow the aircraft to be equipped with ...
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Rafale order
The French Government has ordered the first 13 Dassault Rafale multi-role fighters following agreement with major subcontractors and Dassault to cut prices by 10%. A further order, for 48 aircraft, has been thrown into doubt by a possible change of government. The order covers ten Rafales for the navy and ...
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Lucas provides JSF emergency power
LUCAS AEROSPACE is to provide an emergency power-generating system (EPGS) to be flight-tested in an F-16 modified by Lockheed Martin to demonstrate power-by-wire flight controls for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The unit will be supplied under the JSF Integrated Subsystems Technology demonstrator programme. The EPGS is an ...
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Proton launch is successful
A Russian Proton DM booster operated by ILS International Launch Services carried AT&T's Telstar 5 communications satellite into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on 24 May. It was the Ìrst flight of the booster since the failure of the Proton launch of the Mars '96 probe on 17 November, ...