All Fixed-Wing news – Page 1362
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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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Digital selection
The use of computer techniques for selecting candidates for pilot training is on the increase. Brian Walters/MAASTRICHT IT COSTS A GREAT DEAL to train an airline pilot (around £100,000) and even more (about £2 million) to train a fighter pilot - which is why the ...
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Czech parliament and MoD lock horns over fighter requirement
Andrzej Jeziorski/Jiri Kominek/PRAGUE THE CZECH DEFENCE ministry says that it cannot consider buying Western fighters until 2003, despite mounting parliamentary pressure to drop plans to upgrade its obsolescent Mikoyan MiG-21s. The 14 September closing date for bids to upgrade some 24 Czech air force MiG-21MF Fishbed ...
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Temperature rises in MD-80 anti-icing struggle
THE COMPETITION TO equip more than 1,100 McDonnell Douglas MD-80s with anti-icing systems is intensifying as both contending companies claim major new customers. The competing systems, AlliedSignal's electro-thermal ice protection system, the ETIPS-80, and TDG Aerospace's NOFOD, have been developed to combat clear-ice accretion problems, which affect the ...
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K-MAX has show debut at Helitech
Kaman's K-MAX intermeshing-rotor helicopter had its display debut at the Helitech show. The helicopter has already notched up civil sales in Europe, the USA and Japan. The helicopter on display belongs to Swiss operator Helog. Elsewhere, the US Navy continues to test the K-MAX as part of its vertical-replenishment demonstration ...
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DASA finalises Italian partnership talks
Julian Moxon/PARIS Andrea Spinelli/MILAN Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) and Finmeccanica/Alenia have finally sealed their long-standing talks over a greater German-Italian aerospace partnership, by agreeing to study co-operation across "all fields of civil and military interest". The move comes as DASA, which posted a loss of ...
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USAF and USN plan to solicit bids for JASSM in January
THE COMPETITION to supply a replacement for the cancelled Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile (TSSAM) is expected to begin in January 1996, with the release of a request for proposals for the US Air Force/Navy Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile (JASSM). Development of the Northrop Grumman AGM-137 TSSAM stealthy ...
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JAST engine contest ordered
GENERAL ELECTRIC is to be given the opportunity to compete with Pratt & Whitney, on the power plant for conventional variants of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) programme, because of a US Congressional edict directing the US Department of Defense's programme office, to conduct a competition to power conventional ...
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GPS munitions reach milestones
SELECTION OF a single contractor, to develop the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), is scheduled for 11 October. Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas (MDC) are competing for the contract to produce global-positioning/inertial-navigation (GPS/INS) guidance kits for 74,000 US Air Force bombs. The JDAM guidance kit will be ...
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French industry steels itself for budget cuts
FRENCH AEROSPACE contractors are bracing themselves for major procurement cuts following a defence budget which promises to reduce 1996 spending on weapons by more than Fr8 billion ($1.5 billion). The defence-spending plans were part of a wider state budget unveiled on 21 September by President Jacques Chirac's new ...
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Portugal considers F-16 options
PORTUGAL IS considering procuring an additional 20-40 Lockheed Martin F-16s, along with taking on board the mid-life-upgrade (MLU) put together for other European F-16 operators. A team from the company is due to visit Portugal on 28/29 September, to discuss the upgrade. The aircraft on offer are secondhand ...
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Core avionics
The Collins Proline 4 flight tests are in final completion. This system has evolved, too, and is installed in various forms on business jets such as the Beech 400, Learjet 60 and Dassault 2000; it is specified too for the Israel Aircraft Industries Galaxy. The system is much ...
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Flying firefighters
The London fire service has been conducting an extensive trial in the use of helicopter air support. Brian Walters/LONDON EVERY WORKING DAY, about 2.5 million motor vehicles enter London, resulting in acute traffic jams at peak hours. In those conditions, it is hard for emergency services to ...
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Rotary ambitions
The European helicopter forum in St Petersburg highlighted the Mil and Kamov design bureaux. Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW HIGH-RANKING representatives of major helicopter manufacturers from Europe and the USA attended the European helicopter forum in St Petersburg, Russia, from 2 August-2 September intent on exploring market opportunities ...
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Justice Department will umpire MDC/Pentagon costs squabble
THE US DEPARTMENT of Justice has taken over a "whistleblower" lawsuit, which alleges that McDonnell Douglas (MDC) routinely mischarged labour costs on US Department of Defense aircraft contracts. MDC says that the charges "...are totally without merit". The suit was filed in 1993 by a sacked MDC employee. ...
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Westinghouse attacks IAI 'unfair competition'
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA WESTINGHOUSE Norden Systems has accused Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) of unfair competition, after the Israeli company switched radar suppliers for the Turkish McDonnell Douglas F-4 upgrade programme, from Norden to its own subsidiary, Elta. Westinghouse alleges that IAI misled the Turkish air force as ...
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Elbit poised to provide Huzar avionics
ISRAELI AVIONICS specialist Elbit is negotiating with Polish helicopter manufacturer PZL-Swidnik to provide avionics for the W-3W Huzar combat-support helicopter. The Huzar is viewed as the favourite to meet a yet-to-be-released Polish army tender for a light-transport/combat-support helicopter. No contract has been signed between Elbit ...
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Chirac lobbies for Eurocopter in Spain
FRENCH PRESIDENT Jacques Chirac has intervened in the competition between Eurocopter and Sikorsky to meet a Spanish army transport-helicopter requirement by writing to his Spanish counterpart, prime minister Felipe Gonzalez, urging him to opt for the Eurocopter AS.532 UL Cougar, rather than the rival Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk. ...
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RTAF favours F-18 for fighter need
Paul Lewis/BANGKOK THE McDONNELL Douglas F-18 Hornet is emerging as the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) favourite to meet its next fighter-aircraft requirement, in preference to the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Thailand is considering purchasing an initial, eight fighters for delivery by early 1999. A follow-on ...
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Five C-130Hs bound for Malaysia
THE MALAYSIAN air force has purchased five of Lockheed Martin's nine remaining unsold C-130H Hercules transport aircraft, say local sources. Lockheed Martin reveals that it has only four military transports, together with two civil L-100s, left to place, after recently selling five stretched C-130-30Hs. The aircraft are the ...