All Fixed-Wing news – Page 1381
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Lockheed Martin promises to reduce price of F-16s
LOCKHEED MARTIN is guaranteeing a cost saving of 15% on the F-16 if the US Government allows the manufacturer to switch from military-procurement practices to commercial standards. Commercialisation of production would reduce the price of an F-16 fighter sold to, or through the US Government to below the ...
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Russian air force faces deep crisis
Aircraft obsolescence, spares shortages and procurement problems are leading to a serious downgrading of the Russian air force's combat capability, according to a senior air force official. The air force's plight was detailed by deputy commander-in-chief Col. Gen. Mikhail Soroka at a Russian parliamentary hearing. Soroka ...
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UK awards IR countermeasures system order
A NORTHROP GRUMMAN team has won a $275 million UK Ministry of Defence (MoD)-led contract to develop an advanced-infra-red (IR) countermeasures system for Royal Air Force and US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) aircraft. The directed-IR countermeasures system, the Nemesis, is to provide an active defence against short-range IR-guided ...
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Israel offers cruise missile for export
ISRAEL IS developing a conventional cruise missile derivative of a long-range unmanned air vehicle (UAV) aimed at the requirement of an unspecified Asian customer. Sources close to the project claim that TAAS (formerly Israel Military Industries) has a funded programme under way to adapt its Delilah decoy UAV ...
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RAF to lose WE177
THE ROYAL AIR FORCE will lose its nuclear capability in 1998, nine years earlier than planned, with the withdrawal of the WE177 tactical free-fall nuclear bomb. The bomb is being replaced by a variant of the submarine-launched Trident missile to give the Royal Navy what the UK Government ...
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Pilot Faces Gaol
A former FedEx pilot who attacked one of the carrier's crews in a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 in the cruise has been found guilty of air piracy and faces a 20-year gaol term. A jury rejected the insanity defence of Auburn Calloway who used hammers, a knife and a spear gun ...
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Coming together
In a hangar in Marietta, Georgia, the prototype Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 air-superiority fighter stands amid an impressive array of sample parts and prototype components ranging from avionics connectors to fuselage bulkheads. "We were not talking viewgraphs," says F-22 programme general-manager Gary Riley, referring to the critical design-review (CDR), ...
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Export Gripen will hit market by 2000
SAAB IS AIMING to produce export versions of its JAS39 Gripen multi-role fighter before the turn of the century. According to Saab Military Aircraft vice-president of production and deputy general manager Ragnar Hellstadius, the Swedish company plans to adapt the aircraft to export standards. It will do so ...
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French forces ponder Israeli Hunter purchase
THE FRENCH ARMY is in negotiations with Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) to purchase its Hunter short-range reconnaissance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) for evaluation. The French army has an immediate requirement for five short-range systems. The system could be deployed in Bosnia in support of French operations in the ...
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LEAP fails to rise to the occasion in USNavy tests
A LIGHTWEIGHT Exo-atmospheric Projectile (LEAP) prototype has failed for the second time in succession to intercept a theatre ballistic-missile target during US Navy tests. The latest trial involved a Rockwell-built weapon. The LEAP, mounted on a Hughes Standard Missile, was launched on 28 March from a US Navy ...
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Malaysia shops for military equipment
MALAYSIA IS planning further major purchases of military equipment in its next five-year plan starting in 1996, says the country's defence minister, Najib Tun Razak. A list of proposed new programmes is being finalised by the Malaysian defence ministry and Joint Service Planning Committee for submission to the ...
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Secret Black Hawk goes on display
THE US ARMY stunned visitors to the Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) convention in Atlanta, Georgia, on 30-31 March, by displaying a previously secret attack-version of the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk tactical-transport helicopter developed by its special-operations forces. The MH-60L is a heavily modified, and armed, variant ...
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Boeing to test upgraded Chinook
BOEING HELICOPTER will flight-test later this year a CH-47 Chinook with a dynamically tuned fuselage, to reduce vibration, in the first step towards a possible US Army upgrade programme later this decade. The company will complete the present US Army Chinook modernisation programme by the end of 1995, ...
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Racal acquires Thorn sensors
UK ELECTRONICS company Thorn EMI has bowed out of the defence sector, with its sensors division being acquired by competitor Racal in a deal worth £17.5 million. Thorn had previously sold parts of the defence business to GEC and Thomson-CSF. The business includes the design and maintenance of ...
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Entertaining engineers
Rarely can the airline industry's love affair with a new technology have soured as quickly as in the case of interactive in-flight entertainment (IFE). Seized upon by marketeers, as the ultimate weapon in their armouries, its costs have proved greater and its benefits more elusive than perhaps anyone expected. Its ...
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Cash Transfer
The US National Guard Bureau has transferred $17 million to the US Army to pay for development of the UH-60Q medevac version of the Sikorsky Black Hawk tactical-transport helicopter. Two UH-60As will be modified to qualify the Q configuration. Source: Flight International
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Long-range Trigat on target
The first full guided-firing trial of the Euromissile long-range Trigat anti-armour missile has been successfully completed. It was launched against a target over 3.5km (1.9nm) away. Test firing is being carried out at the Royal Artillery range at Larkhill in the UK. The long-range Trigat imaging infrared missile, is the ...
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German Missile Purchase
The Pentagon is to sell Germany 320 AIM-120B advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, worth about $170 million. Germany will use the missiles, made by Hughes Aircraft and Raytheon, to arm McDonnell Douglas F-4F fighters and, possibly, the European Fighter Aircraft, the Pentagon says. Turkey will receive 16 McDonnell Douglas Harpoon anti-ship ...
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Canada bids to counter cuts by marketing training capacity
CANADA'S DEPARTMENT of National Defence (DND) is marketing its pilot-training capability in a bid to offset excess capacity caused by budget cuts. Six student pilots from the German air force and navy have begun training at the Bombardier-operated Canadian Aviation Training Centre (CATC) at Southport, Manitoba. DND studies ...
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Lockheed makes F-16 line 'green'
LOCKHEED FORT WORTH (LFWC) has eliminated the use of ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs) from the F-16 production line. The F-16 factory at US Air Force Plant 4 was formerly the largest user of ODCs among US Government-owned, contractor-operated plants, using 227,000kg of these compounds in 1989. LFWC introduced a ...