All Fixed-Wing news – Page 1358
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Germany gives go-ahead to research helicopter
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH THE GERMAN Government has confirmed that it will fund a new Eurocopter EC 135-based helicopter technology demonstrator, to fly by the end of 1998. The aircraft, called Helicopter Simulator for Technology, Operations and Research (HeSTOR), will replace the Eurocopter BO 105-based Advanced Technology Testing ...
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US firm tries to resurrect Turkish F-5 project
Guy Norris/SAN ANTONIO HOPES OF REVIVING the long-delayed Turkish Northrop Grumman F-5 upgrade programme have been renewed with the involvement of a US-based investment company bidding to fund and manage the stalled modernisation effort. Washington DC-based Triton Systems is soliciting immediate bids from all the major ...
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Serb jet breaches NATO defences
A SERBIAN LEARJET succeeded in crossing NATO airspace from Belgrade to Belgium without clearance and landed at London Heathrow after two Belgian air force Lockheed F-16A Fighting Falcons scrambled by NATO air defence failed to intercept the aircraft. The incident happened on 28 October. The two F-16s were ...
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Talon claws Korean deal from Hawk
SOUTH KOREA is on the brink of leasing Northrop Grumman T-38 Talon trainers rather than purchasing new-build British Aerospace Hawks, and will use the savings to launch the KTX-II light fighter/trainer-aircraft programme. The South Korean air force is understood to be negotiating an agreement, worth $100 million, to ...
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Sudan considers Hind
An evaluation of the Mil Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter is now taking place in Sudan. In late October, a single aircraft was delivered from surplus stocks held by the Republic of Kyrgyztan. The helicopter was ferried to the Sudan together with a team of flight and technical instructors. ...
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Israel rejects Beechcraft
THE ISRAELI air force has ruled out the Beechcraft MK-2 from its trainer procurement, despite its winning the US Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) competition. The British Aerospace Hawk is now its preferred solution. A senior Israeli air force source says that the MK-2 turboprop trainer "...is ...
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Eurofighter delay forces RAF to rethink upgrades
Douglas Barrie/LONDON THE FIRST Eurofighter 2000 will not enter front-line squadron service with the Royal Air Force until 2005-6, with the aircraft's introduction in the ground-attack role being delayed considerably beyond this date. Whitehall and industry sources confirm that the RAF's planning date for fielding an ...
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Aermacchi to lead trainer joint venture
Andrea Spinelli/GENOA THE LONG-RUNNING battle to create a single Italian trainer-manufacturer is close to being resolved, with Aermacchi and Finmeccanica involved in negotiations over setting up a new merged company. The rivalry between Aermacchi and Siai Marchetti, which is now within the Finmeccanica group, has long ...
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GENE picked for C-141
Honeywell-made global-positioning-system enhanced navigation equipment (GENE) has been selected by Chrysler Technologies Airborne Systems for an upgrade to the US Air Force's Lockheed Martin C-141 control and display equipment. The Honeywell GENE is based on a system developed for the C-130J. Source: Flight International
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Lifting the siege of Sarajevo
A key objective of Operation Deliberate Force was to force the Bosnian Serbs to lift the siege of Sarajevo by re-opening the city's airport for humanitarian-aid flights run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Two days after the end of the NATO bombing on 15 ...
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Mi-8 crashes
A Mil Mi-8 helicopter chartered by Canadian mining company Cameco crashed on 4 October in the Tien-Shan mountains of Kyryzstan, Central Asia, killing 12 passengers and two crew. The aircraft was en route from the Kumtor gold mine to the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek. Wreckage was found at 12,500ft (3,800m) ...
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The ugly duckling
The Harrier heads for a half century of service. Douglas Barrie/LONDON THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, something dubbed the P.1127 took to the air for the first time. It was a far-from-glorious free flight, however, as the airframe was firmly tethered to the ground. British ...
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Air power vindicated
NATO's Bosnia air commanders assess the contribution of Operation Deliberate Force to the three-year-old conflict. Tim Ripley/Vicenza Recent events in Bosnia, with the signing of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement and the lifting of the siege of Sarajevo, lend some weight to the view that NATO air power has ...
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CAE Electronics wins German Tornado simulator contract
CAE ELECTRONICS HAS received a $54 million contract to upgrade seven Panavia Tornado full-mission simulators for the German air force and navy. The work will be performed by CAE's German subsidiary. The upgrade includes new computers, instructor consoles and mission-debrief stations, and real-time radar simulation. Upgraded ...
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Finance problems threaten Turkish upgrade programme
Arie Egozi/TEL AVIV THE ISRAELI-LED $600 million upgrade of the Turkish air force's McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms is in jeopardy because of problems over financing. Although a framework agreement has been signed covering the Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)-driven project, the deal is being threatened by the ...
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Phalcon may fly over China
CHINA AND ISRAEL are understood to be in the final stages of negotiating a $200 million deal covering the purchase of up to four Israel Aircraft Industries Phalcon airborne early-warning (AEW) aircraft - although China is already pursuing an AEW project with GEC-Marconi of the UK. IAI's original ...
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Irreplaceable Aardvark?
The capability gap emerging as US Air Force F-111s are retired highlights the aircraft's unique abilities. Graham Warwick/ATLANTA FAR-FETCHED IT MAY SEEM, but it is feasible that the US Air Force could be flying electronic-warfare versions of the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) F-18 early next century. ...
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France may go for E-3 AWACs over Hawkeyes
FRANCE'S PURCHASE of four Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye airborne early-warning (AEW) aircraft is coming under fire from an influential parliamentary committee, which recommends buying additional Boeing Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft instead. The finance committee wants the Hawkeye purchase to be dropped and has adopted an ...
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Dassault eyes Thomson-CSF stake
Gilbert Sedbon/PARIS DASSAULT AVIATION IS considering taking a stake in Thomson-CSF, the French defence-electronics giant, which is due to be privatised in 1996, but the company has ruled out an alliance with Aerospatiale. "I've no interest in buying into Aerospatiale," says chairman Serge Dassault, claiming ...
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US Marine Corps will abandon Cobra replacement programme
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC THE US MARINE CORPS intends to abandon its replacement for the Bell UH-1N and AH-1W, dubbed the Marine Observation and Attack Aircraft programme, in favour of a $3 billion upgrade of both helicopters, keeping them in service after 2020. The USMC's acquisition strategy ...