All Fixed-Wing news – Page 1389
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Hueys destined for US drug work
THE US BORDER Patrol is expected to begin using five LHTEC T800-powered Bell UH-1H Hueys in April 1995 for drug interdiction and patrols. The last of the five UH-1Hs is being fitted with its T800 engine at the US Army's Fort Rucker Aviation Technical Test Center in Alabama. ...
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Preparing for combat
Much of the Russian air force's tactical doctrine is developed at a base near Moscow. Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW The Combat Training and Flight Crew Conversion Centre (CTFCCC) at Lipetsk is one of the most important institutions of the Russian air force. Located some 400km (250 miles) ...
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UK must renegotiate ASTOVL MoU
Douglas Barrie/LONDON THE UK IS BEING forced to renegotiate a bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) covering its involvement in the US Advanced Short Take-off and Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) programme as a result of the programme being merged with the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) project. ...
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Russia and Ukraine talk over return of Blackjack
A HIGH-LEVEL delegation from the Russian air force has visited Ukraine to negotiate the return of Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack and Tupolev Tu-95MS Bear long-range bombers. The aircraft were retained by Ukraine following, the break-up of the Soviet Union. The team was led by Lt. Gen. Anatoly Proskurin, the ...
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US DoD considers punishment for Lockheed over C-130 Egyptian bribe
THE US DEPARTMENT of Defense (DoD) is reviewing whether to bar Lockheed from receiving Pentagon contracts after the company pleaded guilty to paying an Egyptian politician $1 million for help in securing a $79 million contract for three C-130H Hercules transports. The US State Department has been ...
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B-1Bs pass operational readiness evaluation
THE US AIR FORCE'S Rockwell B-1B bomber fleet has passed a six-month, Congressionally mandated, readiness test intended to establish the aircraft's operational availability. Gen. Mike Loh, commander of USAF Air Combat Command, says that the test showed that the aircraft can fulfil its potential if, Congress provides sufficient ...
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Government veto blocks PC-9 sale to Mexico
The Swiss Government has banned the export of 48 Pilatus PC-9 turboprop trainers to the Mexican air force, which in 1994 used armed PC-7s to quell a revolt in Mexico's Chiapas region. The manufacturer had sought export approval for the SFr300 million ($238 million) deal. "After carefully ...
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Russia to re-start Hokum production
THE RUSSIAN Government has released funding to re-start series production of the much-delayed Kamov Ka-50 Hokum attack helicopter. Series production originally began in 1993 at the Progress plant in Arseneyv in the Russian Far East. Funding shortages, however, brought work on the helicopter to a halt. ...
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Russians reveal Su-24MP cockpit
THE FIRST photograph of the Sukhoi Su-24MP (Fencer F) electronic-warfare (EW) aircraft cockpit shows a considerably revised layout for the electronic-systems operator. The rarely seen aircraft is used by the Russian air force for EW combat training at the Lipetsk air base. Only a dozen Su-24MPs (pictured above) ...
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UK placatory on European workshare
Douglas Barrie/LONDON THE UK GOVERNMENT is holding out an industrial olive branch to Germany in a move aimed at avoiding damaging disputes over work-share on the Eurofighter 2000 and the Future Large Aircraft (FLA). Senior Whitehall sources say that the UK will be relatively flexible ...
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Boeing offers UK 200% offset
BOEING IS offering the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) a 200% offset deal if it purchases the CH-47 Chinook to meet the Royal Air Force's £1 billion support-helicopter requirement. The company hopes that the offset offer will counter what it perceives to be a growing political lobby in ...
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Hand-Me-Down Hokum
The US Department of Defense (DoD) is doing, on the surface, what any responsible government department anywhere would do. It has thousands of helicopters (and parts for them) which have been paid for once by the taxpayer and are now surplus to requirements. Rather than scrapping or mothballing them, the ...
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MDHS to offer EH101 to US Navy
McDONNELL DOUGLAS plans to offer the EH Industries EH101 to meet a US Navy requirement for a fleet-support helicopter. Other likely competitors include Sikorsky, with a cargo version of the Navy's SH-60 Seahawk anti-submarine helicopter, and possibly Kaman, with a military derivative of the K-MAX external-lift helicopter. McDonnell ...
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FLA in Japan
Sumitomo has agreed to market the European Future Large Aircraft (FLA) in Japan. The country's Defence Agency has a requirement for a new long-range transport aircraft to support its overseas peacekeeping operations. The McDonnell Douglas C-17 and Kawasaki's proposed C-X, will also be considered. Source: Flight ...
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JDAM for F-22
The US Air Force has awarded a $105 million contract to Lockheed to develop a capability for the F-22 combat aircraft to carry the Joint Direct Attack Munitions weapon. The work is to be completed in March 2002, according to the USAF. Source: Flight ...
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Saudi F-15 Maintenance
The US Air Force has awarded McDonnell Douglas a $257 million contract to assist Saudi Arabia's McDonnell Douglas F-15 fighter maintenance programme. It says that the work is to be performed at various sites in Saudi Arabia through to December 1996. Source: Flight International
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Spares shortage grounds Australian Black hawks
ONLY THREE of 27 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters operated by the Australian Defence Force's (ADF) 5th Aviation Regiment at Townsville, Queensland, are available for operational flying because of a shortage of spares. The ADF says that the rate at which some parts (principally transmission mounts and the ...
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Surviving in Sarajevo
Tim Ripley/SARAJEVO The small sign pinned to the control-tower window at Bosnia's Sarajevo Airport says it all. "You are now standing in one of the most dangerous places on earth," it proclaims. Fortunately for the French air force air-traffic controllers, bulletproof glass now provides them with some ...
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Eurocopter boss firm on cuts cost-cutting warning
Julian Moxon and Gilbert Sedbon/PARIS EUROCOPTER president Jean-Francois Bigay has warned that the Franco-German manufacturer will have to press on with cost-cutting measures in the face of a patchy market performance in 1994, when orders and deliveries fell again. The tally of new helicopter deliveries ...
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Bigger and better
Assembly of the MDC F-18E/F is meeting or exceeding its performance guarantees. Graham Warwick/ATLANTA When McDonnell Douglas (MDC) lifted the first F-18E forward-fuselage out of its assembly jig on 12 January, development of the US Navy fighter was on schedule and within budget and the aircraft was ...