All Fixed-Wing news – Page 1304
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Netherlands defence ministry advises Slovenia on choice of fighter aircraft
THE ROYAL Netherlands Air Force is conducting force structure and procurement studies for Slovenia as part of the ex-Yugoslavian republic's attempts to establish an independent air force. Slovenia began talks with the Netherlands Government in the third quarter of 1996 for assistance in establishing its air force, viewing ...
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Today tackles tomorrow
DESIGNERS OF TOMORROW'S fighters are already wrestling with an unusual problem - obsolescence. Not of the aircraft as weapon systems, but of key components, principally in the avionics. The problem is being made worse by the protracted development and production timescales caused by reduced defence budgets, and by the decline ...
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Belgian police receives first MD Explorer
Belgium's national police force, the Gendarmerie, has taken delivery of its first McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems MD Explorer helicopter. A second will be delivered in June, and the force also has an option on a third. The Explorer will replace four ageing Sud-Aviation Alouette IIs and an Aerospatiale Puma. The ...
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Boeing picks Hughes maintenance trainers for F-22 programme
HUGHES TRAINING (HTI) is to provide maintenance-training devices for the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 fighter. The $22 million development award from Boeing follows receipt of a $28 million contract to supply the initial suite of F-22 pilot-training devices (Flight International, 19-25 February). The maintenance-trainer contract covers the supply of ...
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Tayside success
Tayside Aviation has landed a ú6 million ($9.7 million)contract from the UK Ministry of Defence to provide flying scholarship training for up to 520 people a year. The five-year deal, which includes an option for a two-year extension, starts on 1 April. The Dundee, Scotland-based flying school has been conducting ...
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TTS moves Heathrow into its Orbit
THOMSON TRAINING & Simulation (TTS) is to relocate its Orbit Flight Training subsidiary from East Midlands Airport to a site near London Heathrow. As part of the move, planned for early 1998, the independent pilot-training centre has sold its two Boeing 737 simulators to Continental and Southwest Airlines. ...
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Reflectone wins deal
REFLECTONE HAS won a $34 million contract to supply the South Korean army with flight simulators for the Bell AH-1F Cobra attack and Sikorsky UH-60P Black Hawk transport helicopters. The simulators will be installed in a new army-aviation training centre. Each will have a five-channel Evans & Sutherland ESIG-4500 visual ...
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Things Fall Apart
If the USA remains the last political superpower, then it must be seen, also, as the last aerospace superpower. Just as the Byzantine Soviet empire has been torn apart by centrifugal forces, so has its aerospace industry been shattered, perhaps beyond hope of repair, by the collapse of the old-style ...
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F-22 makes progress towards first flight
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 29 May first flight of the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 have moved ahead with delivery of the initial avionics software. Endurance testing of the Pratt & Whitney F119 engine, required for initial flight release, has also been completed successfully. Fort Worth, Texas-based Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft ...
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Lack of flying hours may force Russia to ground MiG-31s
Russia is considering grounding its entire fleet of Mikoyan MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors because a lack of pilot flight hours is making the aircraft dangerous to fly. Col Gen Victor Prudnikov, chief of Russia's air-defence force, says that, at the present level of annual flying, it is "shameful and ...
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General Electric-led JSF team pushes ahead
General Electric has received $96 million from the US Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)programme office to carry out further development of the core of its YF120-FX advanced fighter powerplant, as part of the JSF Alternate Engine Programme. GE, which is teamed with Rolls-Royce and the UK company's Allison Engine ...
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Hungary for business
Lockheed Martin and the Hungarian Government signed a protocol at the end of January, "paving the way for expanded, long-term, industrial co-operation". The US company has presented a preliminary plan offering 100% offset in exchange for Lockheed Martin products. The agreement comes in the middle of active marketing of the ...
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Litton smartens UH-60
Litton's Guidance and Control Systems division is to retrofit an initial four US National Guard Sikorsky UH-60A helicopters with cockpit smart multi-function displays (SMFDs). Woodland Hills, California-based Litton says that the SMFDs could be fitted to up to 83 more aircraft, with the aircraft reconfigured as UH-60Qs for battlefield medical- ...
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Hughes wins F-22 pilot training contract
HUGHES TRAINING has been selected to supply pilot-training devices for the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 fighter. Hughes was the only bidder for the contract, after potential rival Loral was acquired by Lockheed Martin. Boeing has awarded Hughes a $28 million contract to supply a suite of training devices by ...
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RAF considers longer lives for Hawk advanced trainers
Back to Warton for a refit before 2008? Douglas Barrie/LONDON Guy Norris/Los Angeles The Royal Air Force is examining a life-extension programme for its British Aerospace Hawk trainers, with BAe also looking at the possibility of addressing any emerging requirement with a re-engined aircraft fitted with a digital cockpit. The ...
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Dutch investigate infra-red signature of NH90
The Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) has carried out windtunnel testing of a model of the NH Industries NH90 helicopter, aimed at evaluating the aircraft's infra-red signature during a range of flight conditions. The tests provided data on engine air-intake characteristics and exhaust- gas recirculation, while simulating the aircraft in ...
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Air-force fighter competition heats up as bidders jostle
International competition to win a pending Philippine air force order for 18 fighter aircraft is intensifying, with the number of potential contenders and proposals continuing to lengthen. The air force has been given a range of industry briefings and presentations on at least nine different European, Israeli, Russian ...
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Navy pushes for ASuW helicopter
The Philippines is expected to give priority to the acquisition of new naval helicopters over competing claims for funding from the air force for replacement search-and-research (SAR) and heavylift machines. Increased concern over Chinese encroachment of the South China Sea Spratly Islands and the need to enforce the ...
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Speaking the language
Sir - Invited, a few decades ago, by Sud-Aviation to visit its Suresnes factory where Alouette helicopters were manufactured for the Royal Netherlands Air Force, I went inside one for inspection. I discovered that the instrument panel (and the handbook) was in French. My hosts refused to believe ...
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Congress budget watchdog doubts whether USA can afford new fighters
THE US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has warned that the Department of Defense cannot afford the planned number of McDonnell Douglas F-18E/Fs, Lockheed Martin/ Boeing F-22s and Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs) without doubling the proportion of its budget which is traditionally spent on new tactical aircraft. The CBO ...