All Fixed-Wing news – Page 1296
-
News
Israelis impressed by MiG-29 combat trials
The Israeli air force has borrowed three MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter aircraft from an unidentified eastern European state. Israel test-flew the aircraft against its Lockheed Martin F-16 and McDonnell Doulgas F-15s. The aircraft , flown out from an Israeli air force base in the Negev desert, were evaluated over ...
-
News
NH Industries gets plans ready for NH90 production
NH Industries (NHI) will meet armaments directors from partner countries of the four -nation NH90 transport-helicopter programme during the Paris air show in June to begin negotiations on tooling and production for up to 240 helicopters. "We're preparing our proposals now," says NHI president Jean-Pierre Barthelemy. "We have ...
-
News
Hercules crash mystifies investigators
The crash of a US Air Force Reserve Lockheed Martin HC-130P into the Pacific Ocean on 22 November 1996 was caused by fuel starvation, but the official investigation could not determine why all four engines had shut down. One of 11 crew members survived when the aircraft crashed ...
-
News
JPATS contract
Raytheon Aircraft has selected FlightSafety Services to develop the ground-based training system (GBTS) for the US Air Force/Navy Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS). The company cites "superior systems engineering and software management" as reasons for selecting FlightSafety over Hughes Training for the $500 million contract. The GBTS is to ...
-
News
Philippines details fighter and weapons requirement
The Philippine air force has issued its first request for proposals (RFP) for 24 new multi-role fighter aircraft and six air-defence radars to manufacturers , initiating a 15-year, 164.5 billion peso ($6.23 billion) defence-modernisation programme. The RFP has been sent to six competing European, Israeli, Russian and US ...
-
News
Yakovlev begins high angle-of-attack trials with Yak-130D
Yakovlev has begun high angle-of-attack (AoA) trials with the prototype of its Yak-130D advanced jet trainer, with the company confident that it has been able to resolve earlier problems with the aircraft's winglets. Andrei Sinitsin, chief test pilot at Yakovlev, says: "A big part of the test programme ...
-
News
Gunships for peace
Camouflaged in the forest, looking down on the River Danube, is a Belgian army tactical air-control party (TACP) practising its skills at calling in air strikes. There are no NATO aircraft on this exercise, however. Instead, two white-painted Mil Mi-24 helicopters can be seen flying along a wood line into ...
-
News
Bell steals a march on rivals for Colombian Huey re-engineing
BELL HELICOPTER Textron is to upgrade as many as 14 UH-1 Huey helicopters now used by Colombia for drug-interdiction and other military missions. The modernisation project, which has yet to be formally announced, gives Bell the lead on two other joint ventures seeking UH-1 re-engineing contracts. In recent ...
-
News
Australia and Indonesia plan a defence for disputed territory
In an unprecedented move, Australia and Indonesia are putting together a $1 billion defence package, covering the acquisition and deployment of air- surveillance and air-defence equipment, to protect key economic assets in the South China Sea. Defence officials from both countries have been working since November 1996 to ...
-
News
Novel simulator attracts trainers
The world's military pilot-training providers are showing interest in a "revolutionary" simulator visual system which is being designed as a development tool for the Saab JAS39 Gripen multi-role fighter, according to the system's software developer Equipe Electronics. The visual system gives not just the full lateral "wrap-around" picture ...
-
News
Clinton stymied by vested interests
Sir - Why cancel the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F22, McDonnell Douglas F18E/F, or even the Joint Strike Fighter, purely to accelerate delivery of the Bell-Boeing V-22 tiltrotor? (Flight International, 23-29 April, P18). I had wondered why certain US politicians had been trying to make out that the F18E/F "-didn't ...
-
News
Commercial moves
LOCKHEEDMARTIN IS poised to return to commercial aerospace, through a possible alliance with Airbus Industrie and by expanding its existing aircraft-maintenance capability. Micky Blackwell, president of Lockheed Martin's Aeronautics sector, says that the US company must increase its international business and boost its share of the maintenance market if it ...
-
News
Euro-frightener
MANY A SHIP, IT IS SAID, is spoiled for a ha'p'orth of tar. The aeronautical equivalent could be the biggest-ever European collaborative fighter project being spoiled for the sake of not a half-penny, but a coin worth maybe a couple of dollars. The Eurofighter EF2000 is technically ready ...
-
News
GE maintenance business challenged by P&W moves
Pratt & Whitney is seeking to combat General Electric Aircraft Engines' growing dominance of the powerplant maintenance market with the launch of its own scheme to secure a major slice of the business. The US engine maker is offering airlines a "thrust-manager" deal covering the entire life of ...
-
News
CMS eyes Australian stand-off contest
CMS DEFENSE SYSTEMS has fit-checked its AFDS-T-powered submunitions dispenser on a Royal Australian Air Force General Dynamics F-111C, in preparation for a possible bid to meet Australia's Air 5398 requirement for a stand-off weapon. Fit checks have also been conducted by Texas Instruments, with its Joint Stand-Off ...
-
News
Shorts faces penalty over C-23 delays
Short Brothers faces penalty charges because of continuing delays in delivering the C-23B variant of the Shorts Sherpa to the US Army. The company is behind schedule in delivering C-23B Plus transport aircraft to the Army, and further delays are expected because of nagging technical problems. ...
-
News
Royal Navy begins process to replace Sea King Commando
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is considering a replacement for the Royal Navy Westland Sea King HC4 Commando assault helicopter under the auspices of the Future Amphibious Support Helicopter (FASH) project. The MoD is looking to introduce a replacement for the HC4 into service around 2008, according ...
-
News
Training contracts
British Aerospace Flight Training Australia (BAFTA) has announced new pilot training contracts worth A$3 million ($2.3 million). The Australian Army will now contract all its basic flying training to BAFTA. The move follows criticism of the Army's recruiting and training, and a current tri-service review in the wake of a ...
-
News
Airservices/RAAF team
Airservices Australia and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) have signed a new agreement to establish joint civil and military air-traffic-control-tower training courses. The joint courses will be conducted at the RAAF's School of Air Traffic Control at East Sale, which has an advanced visual tower-simulator. Under the new arrangement, ...
-
News
USAF F-16c to get strike upgrade
The US Air Force is to upgrade some of its Lockheed Martin F-16Cs, to provide the aircraft with a more-capable targeting and strike capability. Aircraft based at Aviano in Italy, with the 31st Fighter Wing, are to be modified to allow the F-16's improved data modem (IDM) to ...