All news – Page 6860
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Japan suspends Fuji deals after bribery
Japan's Defence Agency is to suspend all transactions with Fuji Heavy Industries for the next 12 months from April to penalise it for its role in a bribery scandal. Several aerospace programmes could be affected, most notably the T-3 trainer replacement programme. The government says only essential work will ...
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Blind alley
It would be difficult to describe the prospects for future supersonic civil transports as anything other than bleak, and getting bleaker, even as the enabling technology is advancing. Notwithstanding the promise of a supersonic corporate jet getting off the ground, there seems little realistic likelihood of even premium airline passengers ...
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ACTIVE takes step to propulsion control
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC A NASA-led research team has taken what it calls the "first step" towards achieving full control of an aircraft using propulsion alone for all phases of flight and not just emergency situations. The landmark was achieved during Phase III of the F-15 ACTIVE (Advanced Control ...
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Embraer demands share of fighter programme
Embraer is reiterating its demand for a share of the Brazilian air force's next generation fighter programme, ahead of an anticipated contender shortlist and release of a request for proposals (RFP) in 1999. The Brazilian Government has not yet stipulated the level of required local industrial participation, but this ...
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Greek air force gives the wink to Ericsson's Erieye system
Howard Gethin/LONDON The Greek Government has selected the Ericsson Erieye system for the Greek air force's airborne warning and control system requirement in a deal worth more than $500 million for four systems integrated with the Embraer EMB-145. The sale is the first export success for the industrial ...
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Clean-up under way on F/A-18E/F wingdrop solution
A "transonic clean-up" is under way on the Boeing F/A-18E/F to reduce the performance penalties associated with the solution devised for the earlier wing drop problem. The porous wing fold fairing which eliminated the manoeuvre wing drop has increased drag, which has reduced range and acceleration marginally. While the ...
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Italy and Spain will share AMRAAM costs
Italy and Spain have agreed to pay all the costs of integrating the AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile on the Boeing AV-8BHarrier II Plus. Boeing has been awarded an $85.5 million contract, funded 50:50 by Italy and Spain, to perform the work. The Europeans had expressed concern that the US ...
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JSF engines tested in STOVL modes
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Pratt &Whitney has exercised all short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) modes of the propulsion systems under test for the Boeing and Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) concept demonstrators. All four JSF119 engine variants were on test by late November. Programme manager Bob Cea says the ...
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Marconi's Phoenix has landed - six years late
The British Army has accepted the Marconi Avionics-developed Phoenix unmanned air vehicle into service - six years later than scheduled. The company has also embarked on a study of potential upgrades to the system. Deliveries of 50 air vehicles and eight ground stations to two Royal Artillery regiments ...
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Longbow loader
A Boeing-developed ammunition loading system for the AH-64D Longbow Apache's M30 Chain Gun automatic cannon has entered service with the US Army's 1-227th Attack Battalion. The "Sideloader" 30mm loading system enables soldiers to load 11-round strips of bulk ammunition directly into the gun. Using the system, one crew member will ...
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Buzzing along
Allan Winn/LONDON According to the laws of mathematics and physics, bees cannot fly. Millions of bees every day prove, of course, that either this theory or the laws of physics are wrong: according to apiarist Rex Boys, it is the theory which fails the test. The physics are sound: it ...
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Turning peanuts into gold
Ramon Lopez/MONTREAL Bombardier Services hopes that participation in the second phase of the US Navy's (USN) vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehicle (UAV) demonstration will highlight the CL-327 Guardian's capabilities in satisfying the US military's VTOL Tactical UAV (VTUAV)requirement. The Canadian aerospace firm also seeks a ...
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Working together
Julian Moxon/PARIS It is often said that the commercial success of Airbus Industrie has been largely due to the marketing edge gained through the use of advanced technologies. Fly-by-wire flight controls, composite materials and computerised manufacturing techniques have already contributed to the consortium's success and will soon be followed ...
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Darting towards retirement
Peter Henley/BOURNEMOUTH HURN Flying a 35-year-old Handley Page Dart Herald was markedly different from Flight International's usual flight tests of aircraft closer to the leading edge of technology. It was, however, a fascinating experience piloting one of the last operational examples of this first generation turboprop regional airliner. ...
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Moving swiftly
Kanichi Amano/TOKYO Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE When the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) approved funding for a new supersonic engine demonstrator programme, Tokyo once again proved its readiness to put real money behind the development of technology for a new supersonic transport (SST) aircraft. In September, the ...
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Chasing a dream
Paul Duffy/PERM The last seven years have been difficult for the Russian aviation industry. Long accustomed to producing to Soviet state orders, the industry's finance and income also came from the same source. Now in crisis, most state-owned companies in the industry are waiting for state rescue. If ...
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Smart move
Tim Furniss/LONDON On 10 December, while the first components of the International Space Station were catching the world's eye, Sweden launched its Astrid 2 science satellite. The launch was made aboard a Russian Cosmos 3M booster from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome as part of a contract with the Russian Polyot organisation. ...
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Supersonic business
Julian Moxon/PARIS Additional reporting by Guy Norris and Graham Warwick While the announcement was unexpected, few could have been surprised when Dassault Aviation announced at the 1997 National Business Aircraft Association (NBAA) show that it was "studying the feasibility of a supersonic business jet". Dassault's extensive supersonic combat ...
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The final frontier
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Every time a Space Shuttle blasts off, its booming sound waves pass unseen over the forgotten bones of a long abandoned project. Lying at the edge of the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, are the forlorn remains of Boeing's 2707-200 supersonic transport (SST) full-scale mock-up. Abandoned when the ...
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Air London calls on UK CAA to resist rule change
Air London, the world's largest corporate charter broker, has called on the UK Civil Aviation Authority not to bow to pressure from other members of the charter broker community to exempt corporate aircraft from the new air travel organiser's license (ATOL) regulations. The regulations, commonly associated with airline travel, ...