All Fixed-Wing news – Page 1336
-
News
Sagem of France sells 40 upgraded Mirages to Pakistan
Gilbert Sedbon/PARIS SAGEM OF FRANCE has signed a Fr500 million ($97 million) contract with Pakistan for the sale of up to 40 upgraded secondhand Dassault Mirage III fighter aircraft. The upgrade of the aircraft includes avionics, navigation systems and day/night attack capability. The aircraft have been ...
-
News
Denel chases Australian gunship/transport order
DENEL HAS confirmed the company is planning to enter the contest to supply the Australian Defence Force's (ADF) new reconnaissance and troop-lift helicopters, with the Rooivalk and the Oryx aircraft, respectively. While the ADF was widely known to be looking for a replacement for its existing Bell Kiowa ...
-
News
France and Germany rethink joint defence programmes
Julian Moxon/PARIS FRANCE AND GERMANY have agreed to review all co-operative defence programmes shared by the two countries, to reduce costs and solve major budget difficulties faced by both. The decision followed a meeting held on 5 June at Dijon, in France, between France's President, Jacques ...
-
News
PZL-Swidnik picks PT6 for new Sokol
PZL-Swidnik has selected the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-65 turboshaft to power a new model of the multi-purpose, twin-engined, W-3 Sokol helicopter. The PT6C-65 is a new turboshaft series derived from the PT6 turboprop family and will be available in thrust ratings from 895-1,490kW (1,200-2,000shp). The Sokol programme ...
-
News
Boeing talks again to Harbin about Chinook production
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE BOEING HELICOPTER is in further talks with Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing (HAMC) about transferring and restarting production of the Model 234 Commercial Chinook in China. A HAMC team is understood to have visited Boeing in Philadelphia in mid-May to discuss market prospects and funding for ...
-
News
DASA and GEC aim to settle DASS dilemma
Andrzej Jeziorski/ULM SENIOR DASA AND GEC-Marconi officials were due to have met at the end of May in an effort to head off an industrial dispute over Germany's purchase of a defensive-aids subsystem (DASS) for the Eurofighter EF2000 combat aircraft. DASA is concerned that the German ...
-
News
What's on
Society of Flight Test Engineers European Symposium 10-12 June, Blackpool, Lancashire, UK. Contact: R A Hartley, c/o Flight Test Department (W27K), British Aerospace Military Aircraft Division, Warton Near Preston, Lancashire PR4 1AX, UK; tel: +44 (1772) 852105; fax: +44 (1772) 855295). Reliability and 1309 Design Analysis for Aircraft ...
-
News
A new Fulcrum for Russian industry
Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW IT IS EITHER a confederation of cripples, or the creation of a group which mirrors the scale advantages enjoyed by US aerospace goliath Lockheed Martin: only time will tell which is true of VPK MAPO. The creation of VPK MAPO (Military Industrial Complex - ...
-
News
US Air Force looks at hand-held GPS sets
THE US MILITARY is considering requiring the use of hand-held global-positioning-system (GPS) sets in both fixed-and rotary-wing military passenger-aircraft, following the US Air Force Boeing CT-43 crash near Dubrovnik, Croatia, on 3 April. The hand-held GPS equipment would fill the gap until an integrated GPS is fitted to ...
-
News
F-2 talks reach impasse
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE NEGOTIATIONS between the Japanese and US Governments on production workshare for the Mitsubishi F-2A/B support fighter are in danger of stalling, threatening to delay delivery of the first aircraft. For production to start on time, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) needs to be agreed ...
-
News
Israel plans fighter-replacement contest
THE ISRAELI AIR FORCE plans to launch a competition within the next 12 months to select a fighter to replace its remaining McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms and Lockheed Martin F-16A/Bs. The replacement aircraft, due to enter service early in the first decade of the next century, will replace ...
-
News
R-R reveals Adour boost
Guy Norris/DERBY ROLLS-ROYCE has unveiled improvements to the US Navy's McDonnell Douglas (MDC) T-45A Adour powerplant, as the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) nears a final choice of engine for its $1 billion lead-in fighter-trainer contract. The initiative follows the discovery of cracks and other evidence ...
-
News
FLA fate hangs in the balance
Douglas Barrie/LONDON THE FATE OF the European Future Large Aircraft (FLA) programme will be determined shortly, with a final French decision on a funding compromise due to be made in the middle of June. French defence minister Charles Millon and Aerospatiale chairman Louis Gallois are understood ...
-
News
Turks revive F-5 upgrade plan
Tony Gill/VIRGINIA TURKEY IS PREPARING to issue yet another request for proposals (RFP) to upgrade its Northrop F-5A/Bs, following unsuccessful attempts to begin a modernisation programme. An RFP could be issued as early as June for a cockpit update to convert 34 F-5A/Bs into lead-in trainers ...
-
News
USA and Indonesia resolve F-16 spat
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE INDONESIA HAS reached agreement with the USA on improvements to be made to nine Lockheed Martin F-16A/Bs, originally earmarked for Pakistan, clearing the way for Indonesia's planned purchase of the fighters to proceed. The $25 million modification work is needed to meet Indonesian ...
-
News
Vacu-Blast to equip RAF centre joint
VACU-BLAST of the UK, part of BTR Industries, has been awarded the contract to equip the Royal Air Force's first "whole-aircraft" plastic-media paint-stripping (PMS) centre, which is being built by prime contractor Birse Construction at RAF St Athan in South Wales, UK. The centre, which is due for ...
-
News
New bite for Cobras
The US Marine Corps is to upgrade its Bell AH-1Ws and UH-1Ns with a new four-blade rotor. Graham Warwick/ATLANTA BELL'S UH-1 HUEY HAS a distinguished history, and its AH-1 Cobra derivative defined the attack helicopter. Now US Marine Corps plans to upgrade its Hueys and Cobras promise ...
-
News
Malays say 'no' to F-5 upgrade
THE MALAYSIAN Government has rejected as too expensive a local-industry initiative to upgrade its air force's remaining Northrop F-5E/F fighters. Malaysian defence minister Syed Hamid Albar has ruled out as too expensive a M$500 million ($200 million) plan to modify the F-5E/F as a lead-in fighter trainer. Funding ...
-
News
Australia unveils aerial-surveillance project
THE AUSTRALIAN Defence Forces is pulling together its broad-area aerial-surveillance and unmanned-air-vehicle (UAV) requirements into a single project, known as Joint 129. The project, established at the end of April, will result in the acquisition of either a combination of manned surveillance aircraft, supporting a synthetic-aperture-radar system, and tactical ...
-
News
Fifth-generation Russian combat aircraft go ahead
Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW RUSSIA PLANS to press ahead and procure a fifth-generation fighter and a long-range strike aircraft to replace the Tupolev Tu-22M Backfire, according to Col Gen Piotr Deinekin, commander-in chief of the Russian air force. Deinekin also confirms that a reconnaissance variant of the ...