All news – Page 6901
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France studies Alpha Jet life extension
France's defence ministry is studying a new plan to upgrade the cockpit of the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet trainer and keep the aircraft in service well into the next century. A decision on whether to go ahead is likely before the end of the year, says a source at Dassault ...
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Venezuela will buy the Flycatcher
Venezuela will buy the Flycatcher and Barak Venezuela is to buy the Signaal Flycatcher Mk 2 anti- aircraft system, including the Rafael Barak-1 naval point defence surface-to-air missile. The contract for three mobile gun/Barak-1 units is expected to be signed soon. The deal includes options for three more ...
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Bell pitches adapted 609 to US services for V-22 training
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Bell Helicopter Textron is proposing to adapt the Model Bell UV-609 civil tiltrotor to fly combat missions for the US Army, and for use by the US Marine Corps as a trainer intended for V-22 pilots. The company believes that the proposed UV-609 can also ...
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China gears up to produce Flanker
Shenyang Aircraft (SAC) of China is preparing to begin licence assembly of its first Sukhoi Su-27SK fighter by the end of the year, under an agreement which could stretch to a 200-aircraft programme. The commencement of the licence production deal represents the third tranche of Su-27 deliveries to the ...
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Turkey boosts order for CN-235
Turkey has ordered an additional nine CASA CN-235MPAs to add to the 52 transport variants which it has already ordered. The order includes six for the Turkish navy and three for the Coast Guard, both of which are both new operators. The aircraft will be used in a maritime ...
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Gripen squadrons may go as Sweden cuts costs
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH The supreme commander of the Swedish armed forces, Gen Owe Wiktorin, has proposed cutting the final number of Saab JAS39 Gripen squadrons from 12 to 10, as a cost-cutting measure. Reduced flying by the remaining Gripen squadrons would save the service around SKr 150 ($18 million) a ...
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Korean Hip seizure
Russian customs authorities have seized five Mil Mi-8T Hips at Khasan on the Russian-Korean border. The helicopters were flying to North Korea, but customs officials stopped the crews after it was discovered that there was no approval to sell the aircraft and documentation showed irregularities. The helicopters were thought ...
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Israel forms F-16 tie with Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin, Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and Elbit Systems have signed a memorandum of understanding on future F-16 upgrade programmes. The IAI/Lockheed Martin package is primarily intended for the Israeli air force's fleet of F-16A/Bs, but one of Lockheed Martin's roles will be to promote the upgrade to the ...
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Italy studies the Yak/AEM-130 as Russia falters
The Italian air force has had initial briefings on the Yak/AEM-130 advanced jet trainer, as the Aermacchi/Yakovlev joint programme becomes increasingly an Italian venture due to Russia's financial woes. In a separate move, the Italian Government is planning to provide around L390 billion ($241 million) in funding over the ...
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Japan stalls future fighter demonstrator
The Japan Defence Agency (JDA)has postponed plans to start work on a future fighter demonstrator next year, as it struggles to complete development flight testing of the new Mitsubishi F-2A/B support fighter by the end of 1999. The JDA's Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) had wanted to start ...
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Germany approves Camcopter vehicle
Austria's Schiebel says that its Camcopter vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle (UAV) is the recommended platform for the next phase of Germany's Airborne Minefield Reconnaissance Technology programme. The compact rotary-wing UAV won the endorsement of the IABG, which tests and evaluates systems for the German military. ...
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Patriot is top for Greece's air defence package
Howard Gethin/LONDON Greece has selected the Raytheon Patriot missile system over the Russian S-300 (SA-12 Gladiator) to form the core of its air defence system upgrade. An order worth more than $1.1 billion is likely to follow final negotiations. The announcement came at the end of the Defendory ...
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Taiwan hovers on Huey replacement
Taiwan is planning to order nine improved Boeing CH-47SD Chinook transport helicopters, while wavering on a final decision to purchase a much larger quantity of utility machines to replace its locally built Bell UH-1Hs. The US Congress is to be asked to approve a $486 million deal covering the ...
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'Pilot's pal' system flies the Apache Longbow
Boeing has flight tested a talking cockpit management system, called the rotorcraft pilot's associate (RPA), in a modified AH-64 Longbow Apache attack helicopter, part of an $80 million advanced technology demonstration by the firm's Phantom Works. The system, which uses pilot-activated voice commands, includes new special cockpit controls and ...
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Cessna raises Citation stakes
Guy Norris/WITCHITA Cessna comes to the US National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) meeting this year with an unprecedented array of eight Citation models either in production, flight test or planning. Filled with ambition, and keen to bolster the competitiveness of the Citation family against a new generation of business jets, ...
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Mediterranean stand-off
Andrzej Jeziorski/ATHENS Early in September, Greece accused neighbouring Turkey of repeatedly violating its national airspace, and the Athens flight information region (FIR),with its military aircraft, in a series of incidents symptomatic of the tension between the two countries. The Greek air force claimed that a total of 26 ...
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Honeywell displays advances
Guy Norris/PHOENIX When Honeywell unveiled its Primus Epic avionics system at the 1996 National Business Aviation Association convention, it promised that advanced three-dimensional (3D) displays were just down the road. At this year's NBAA, it will be demonstrating 3D display concepts developed using its new tool for rapid ...
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Compromise and change
Paul Lewis/SEOUL and CHANGWON Two years is not generally considered a long time in the world of aerospace, but for South Korea's industry, it must have seemed like eternal purgatory. Once- bold visions of being a major international aerospace player have been shattered by the cold blast of fiscal reality ...
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Good flying ?
Christopher Yeo/SACHON, SOUTH KOREA Keen to apply aircraft development skills honed on licence manufacturing, South Korea's aerospace industry is facing a major test as it awaits an order for its first indigenously designed product - the KT-1 Woong Bee turboprop trainer. The South Korean air force has completed ...
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Aiming for the stars
Tim Furniss/LONDON South Africa's first satellite, the Sunsat, will be launched aboard a Boeing Delta II on 8 January, 1999. The 50kg spacecraft will be placed into a 400-800km polar orbit, and could be a precursor to a fleet providing remote sensing services for natural disaster and environmental monitoring. ...