All Fixed-Wing news – Page 1376
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UK contest seen as crucial test
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON The UK attack helicopter competition is being viewed as a crucial test of how the three main airframe manufacturers competing for the contract will fare in future battles to dominate world export markets, says Fred Hubbard, senior vice-president at Bell Helicopter Textron. At a ...
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Cold comfort
Rationalisation is the only answer to saving Russia's crumbling military-manufacturing base. Douglas Barrie/MOSCOW Even by the manufacturers' own figures, military production in Russia has collapsed by 80% over the past four years. Combat-aircraft producers in the former Soviet Union are battling for survival, and it is a fight ...
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Czechs cut air force upgrade
The Czech DEFENCE ministry has reduced ambitious plans for a substantial upgrade to part of the air force's Mikoyan MiG-21 Fishbed fleet. According to ministry sources in Prague, a more austere upgrade package is now envisaged. This will consist of replacing the Russian Odd Rods identification friend or ...
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Japan rekindles Harrier interest
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE JAPAN'S MILITARY is signalling renewed interest in the British Aerospace/McDonnell Douglas Harrier, and hopes to secure funding in the next five-year defence plan for an initial batch of the vertical/short take-off and landing (V/STOL) aircraft. The purchase of between three and five aircraft is ...
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US Navy plans commercial-helicopter demonstration
The US Navy plans to study the feasibility of using commercially operated helicopters for vertical replenishment (vertrep) of ships. A request for proposals for a two-month demonstration was scheduled to be released on 26 May. Kaman Aerospace plans to respond with a bid based around the K-MAX commercial ...
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Thailand puts pressure on USA for F-15
Thailand has stepped up pressure on the US Government to release the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) F-15 and Hughes AIM-120 AMRAAM active-radar air-to-air missile for sale in South-East Asia, following Vietnam's purchase of up to 20 Sukhoi Su-27 fighters. The Thai air force is due to select a new ...
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Mikoyan designs single-seat MiG-AT strike derivative
Alexander Velovich/Moscow Mikoyan has started design work on a single-seat light strike, fighter derivative of the MiG-AT advanced jet trainer which it is offering to the Russian air force. The MiG-ATB (B for Boyevoy or combat) is intended for competition with aircraft such as the British ...
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Final assembly of Gulfstream V wing starts at Northrop
NORTHROP GRUMMAN has begun final assembly of the wings for the first Gulfstream V long-range business jet at its Commercial Aircraft division, formerly Vought Aircraft, in Dallas, Texas. Northrop Grumman, along with its revenue-sharing partner, ShinMaywa Industries of Japan, is supplying Gulfstream with the complete wing assembly, including ...
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China's Hong-7 may never enter service
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE CHINA'S INDIGENOUSLY developed Jian Hong-7 strike aircraft is unlikely ever to enter service with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) naval air force, because of its relatively poor performance and outdated design, say Western military sources. The tandem-seat JH-7, or B-7, has been under ...
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Carry on carrier?
Is there enough political support for the concept of the aircraft carrier to continue into the next century? Douglas Barrie/LONDON Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Next to acquiring an arsenal of nuclear weapons, the pursuit of an aircraft-carrier programme identifies a country's aspirations to project its political will beyond ...
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Japanese plan to build more F-15s
Paul Lewis /TOKYO JAPAN PLANS TO extend licence production of the McDonnell Douglas F-15 fighter to compensate for the anticipated reduction in procurement of the new Mitsubishi/Lockheed Martin FS-X. The Japan Defence Agency (JDA) is understood to be seeking initial funding in the fiscal year 1996 ...
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Latest Hokums under test
Kamov has delivered the two latest models of its KA-50 Hokum attack helicopter, aircraft Yellow 20 (above) and Yellow 21, to Russia's Army Aviation at the Torzhok combat-evaluation centre. They differ only in minor detail from previous pre-production variants of the Hokum. Only a very limited number of Ka-50s have ...
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Italy reconsiders FLA purchase
Andrea Spinelli/GENOA THE ITALIAN air force is considering slashing the number of European Future Large Aircraft (FLA) it intends to procure in favour of an early purchase of the Lockheed C-130J Hercules 2. The air force has a study under way into its future transport ...
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Israel Aids Slovenia
Israel is assisting Slovenia to define its defence needs, with a study of air and land systems performed, by an unnamed Israeli company and due to be completed, before the end of the year. Israel has been trying to interest Slovenia in secondhand Israel Aircraft Industries Kfir fighters. A United ...
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BAe courts Westland with Tiger
Douglas Barrie/LONDON BRITISH AEROSPACE has informally approached rival bidder Westland for the UK's £2 billion-plus attack helicopter procurement, offering it final assembly of the Eurocopter Tiger should BAe emerge victorious from the competition. The move is the latest attempt by BAe to undermine any political ...
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FAA demands turboprop-icing tests
THE US FEDERAL Aviation Administration plans to require manufacturers of 26 regional-turboprop types to test their aircraft for susceptibility to large-droplet icing, suspected to have caused the October 1994 crash of an American Eagle ATR 72. The FAA wants the testing completed by the start of the ...
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BAe studies plan to re-engine RAF's fleet of Nimrod MR2s
BRITISH AEROSPACE is considering a plan to re-engine the Royal Air Force's fleet of BAe Nimrod MR2 maritime-patrol aircraft (MPA) with a variant of the BMW Rolls-Royce Series 700 turbofan engine in its bid to win the RAF's replacement-MPA contest. The company is due to submit its final ...
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Vietnam Acquires Su-27s
The Vietnamese air force has ordered a limited number of Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker air-superiority fighter aircraft. At least two, are already believed to have been delivered. The total order is thought not to exceed 20 aircraft. Details of the deal remain scant. Source: Flight International
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UK/USA discuss Cobra link
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC THE UK AND US Governments are discussing a joint procurement programme covering the Bell AH-1 attack helicopter, in the run-up to a decision by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) on its attack-helicopter requirement. Flight International has obtained details of a 3 ...
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SIGINT Satellite
A Lockheed Martin Titan 4 Centaur booster was used to launch what analysts believe is a signals-intelligence (SIGINT) satellite into a highly elliptical, 63°-inclination orbit, from Cape Canaveral on 14 May. This follows the launch of a similar payload in May 1994. The type of orbit provides regular over-flights of ...