All Fixed-Wing news – Page 1356
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Russian carrier deploys to Adriatic
RUSSIA IS DEPLOYING the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov to the Adriatic Sea in late December, equipped with up to 16 Sukhoi Su-27K naval fighters, eight Su-25UTG trainer/attack aircraft and ten Kamov Ka-27/29 anti-submarine helicopters. The deployment will mark the first time that the Russians have sent significant naval ...
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Stored Skyhawks threaten Kuwait deal for AH-64s
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS' (MDC) failure to dispose of surplus Kuwaiti A-4K Skyhawks is undermining the company's efforts to sell the country its AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. Kuwait's 1988 order for 40 MDC F/A-18 Hornets included the proviso that the manufacturer found a buyer for its A-4s. The 23 surviving ...
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Spain wavers on Eurofighter
John Parry/MADRID Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH SPAIN IS CONSIDERING withdrawing from the Eurofighter programme just as the UK and Germany appear to be moving closer to an agreement on the controversial problem of work-share. The Spanish defence ministry confirms: "There is no decision taken yet, but withdrawal ...
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Hungary in Gripen parts deal
Saab Military Aircraft has signed an agreement with Danubian Aircraft of Hungary for the production of JAS39 Gripen components. At the same time, a Swedish air force JAS39 has been flown to Hungary for evaluation by the Hungarian air force. According to Danubian, the agreement means the company ...
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Boeing/MDC talks raise pressure for Airbus rethink
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES REPORTS THAT Boeing and McDonnell Douglas are exploring options for a mega-merger have raised pressure on the Airbus partners to accelerate their own sluggish restructuring efforts. The Boeing-MDC talks came to light in a report in the Wall Street ...
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Taiwan near to Hercules deal
TAIWAN IS CLOSE TO concluding a deal, to purchase the last four available, unsold Lockheed Martin C-130H-30 Hercules transport aircraft. The Republic of China Air Force had originally planned to order an additional four aircraft as part of its 1996 budget. The service already operates 17 ...
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Competitors wait for Pentagon move on tactical air vehicle
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON, DC THE FATE OF the US Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) programme is to be decided on 22 November by Paul Kaminiski, the US Department of Defense's acquisition chief. If he approves a formal request for proposals for an advanced- concept technology-demonstration project, ...
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India looks abroad for AEW
THE FUTURE OF INDIA'S long-running airborne-early-warning (AEW) aircraft programme has been thrown into doubt, with the defence ministry looking at off-the-shelf alternatives. India has test flown an aerodynamic AEW test-bed, mounting a German-produced rotodome shell on a Hawker Siddeley HS.748, but the successful development and integration of ...
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Bidders jostle for Saudi fighter requirement
NORTHROP GRUMMAN has submitted a bid to Saudi Arabia for proposed upgrade packages to the country's fleet of Northrop F-5s, while Lockheed Martin is pursuing selling the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) up to 100 F-16C/Ds as a replacement aircraft. Originally, the RSAF was looking to replace its ...
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Gripen decision
Saab has selected Silicon Graphics (SGI) and SEOS Displays to supply the visual system for an engineering simulator to be used in development of advanced and export versions of the JAS39 Gripen lightweight fighter. UK company SEOS will supply a 3m-diameter dome display, while Saab has selected SGI's "next-generation" image ...
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Horizon presentation
Senior NATO representatives have attended a flight demonstration of Eurocopter's Horizon battlefield surveillance system, based on the AS.532 Cougar helicopter at Marignana, near Marseilles. NATO is considering purchasing such a system. The first of two Horizon systems is due to be delivered to the French army early in 1996. ...
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Dan dares
NASA's administrator Daniel Goldin has taken the US space organisation into a "faster, better, cheaper" era. Tim Furniss/WASHINGTON DC DANIEL GOLDIN HAS taken NASA by the scruff of its neck and brought it out of the post-Challenger doldrums into a new international era, with a "faster, better, ...
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Catching up
Large numbers of personnel and aircraft are no compensation for the Chinese air force's lack of modern technology. Paul Lewis/BEIJING THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION Army Air Force (PLAAF) of China has attracted considerable international attention in recent years. Reports of large-scale purchases of Russian arms, underwritten by double-digit ...
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UAE carries on Rafale evaluation decision date slips for UAE
Gilbert Sedbon/PARIS A DASSAULT RAFALE multi-role fighter is to be flown to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Tanagra air force base for evaluation, immediately after the Dubai air show ends on 16 November. The continuing evaluation of combat aircraft is the clearest indication to date ...
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Shaping the future
New companies using new technologies are challenging established light-aircraft manufacturers. Karen Walker/ATLANTA A TYPICAL light aircraft's shape most likely to come to mind is almost cruciform - a squarish wing across a squarish fuselage. Now think of a modern yacht and its smooth, curvaceous, outline. While the ...
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Japan plans timetable for P-3C Orion replacement
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE THE JAPAN DEFENCE Agency (JDA) wants to launch development of a new maritime-patrol aircraft (MPA) by 2000, with an in-service date of 2008, as a replacement for its Kawasaki-built Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion anti-submarine-warfare aircraft. Provisional planning calls for full-scale development to start ...
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Westinghouse outlines night-attack APG-68 upgrade plan
WESTINGHOUSE AND Lockheed Martin are working out the cost of proposed upgrades to the APG-68 radar to give full night interdiction/close-air-support capability to some Lockheed Martin F-16s without the need for add-on targeting and navigation pods. The upgraded radar, the APG-68(I), would be operated in two additional ...
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DASA's attitude reference will help Eurofighter pilots
Andrzej Jeziorski/FRIEDRICHSHAFEN DAIMLER-BENZ Aerospace (DASA) is to integrate a new attitude-reference system into the Eurofighter 2000, which dramatically improves a pilot's attitude awareness. The arc segment attitude reference (ASAR), under development by DASA since 1987, has improved unusual-attitude recovery times by up to 30% in ...
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GEC-Marconi aims for F-5 users with Hakim
Guy Norris/SAN ANTONIO GEC-MARCONI Dynamics has fit-checked the 227kg version of its precision-guided munition (PGM) beneath the wing of the upgraded Northrop Grumman F-5E Tiger IV, and is also continuing flight-testing the weapon on a McDonnell Douglas F-4. The company is aiming the weapon, called ...
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Brunei chooses ArgoSystems for CN-235
BRUNEI HAS SELECTED ARGOSystem as the tactical integrator for its planned fleet of Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) CN-235 maritime-patrol aircraft (MPA). The US company was selected over Racal, after a prolonged competition lasting some five years. It is now hoped to finalise the integration contract with ...