All news – Page 7137
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Trident upgrade
Northrop Grumman has won a $78 million US Navy contract to upgrade Trident I nuclear submarines with new launch tubes and subsystems to accommodate the larger D-5 Trident II sea-launched ballistic missile. The work will be handled by the firm's Marine Systems unit. Source: Flight International
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Indonesian Flanker
Indonesia has postponed its planned acquisition of 12 Sukhoi Su-30 two-seat variants of the Su-27 because of its economic problems. The first aircraft was due to have been delivered in 1998. Also postponed is its planned procurement of eight Mil Mi-17 helicopters. Source: Flight International
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Taiwan narrows its utility helicopter choice
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE The Taiwan army has narrowed down the selection of a replacement utility helicopter to either the Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk or the Bell 412, in what promises to be one of the few remaining lucrative arms deals still being actively contested in Asia. Taiwan has a requirement ...
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US Navy promotes low-cost Tomahawk
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The US Navy is to seek Congressional approval to shift funds from production of the Tomahawk cruise missile to development of a new low-cost version. The Navy wants to take fiscal-year 1998 money earmarked for the last batch of Tomahawk Block 3 missiles and put it ...
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Wingdrop is a 'national issue', says panel
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC A Blue-Ribbon panel set up to review efforts to cure the Boeing F/A-18E/F wingdrop problem has identified a "national need" to understand the phenomenon. Concern has been raised by the failure of windtunnel testing and computation fluid-dynamic (CFD) analysis to predict accurately how potential solutions will perform ...
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Cash crunch
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE The Asian economic bubble has burst and the perceived regional "arms race" has, for now, come to a grinding halt. With local currencies and stock markets in freefall and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) administering fiscal first aid, most South-East Asian defence-procurement provisions are rapidly drying up. Despite ...
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Malaysia gateway
Brent Hannon/KUALA LUMPUR Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at Sepang, 70km (45 miles) south of the Malaysian capital, rushed to its target completion date of 1 January with two runways, a main terminal and a satellite terminal largely finished, says Ambrin Buang, senior general manager of Government-owned K L International ...
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Singapore solutions
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE At a glance, aircraft, armoured vehicles, automated taxi-dispatchers and container ships would appear to have little in common. Not so, says Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero), which has just merged with its ST sister companies, Automotive, Marine and Electronics, to form a single S$3.5 billion ($2 billion) listed ...
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Mars fever
Tim Furniss/LONDON The first flights to enable assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) to begin are scheduled to start in June, but such is the intense public interest in Mars after the Mars Pathfinder mission in 1997 that NASA is considering a more Martian-orientated approach to the later stages ...
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AASI predicts a sales boom for its Jetcruzer 500
Advanced Aerodynamics & Structures (AASI) has announced a further ten sales of its Jetcruzer 500 turboprop business aircraft, bringing the total backlog to 86, worth around $103 million. The Long Beach, California-based manufacturer hopes that sales will exceed 220 by the end of 1998, based on the current interest ...
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Live TV takes to the air for business aviation
Live television has become available to business-aircraft users, following US certification of Datron Systems' new satellite-television antenna for corporate aircraft. The Escondido, California-based company, launched its direct-broadcast satellite antenna DBS-2100 at the National Business Aviation Association convention in September 1997. The system underwent its first flight tests at the ...
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Dassault Aviation reveals soaring aircraft sales
Dassault Aviation claims to have taken over 50% of business-jet sales in its market sector in 1997 - for the first time. Sales in 1997 totalled 98 aircraft, with the balance between the four products - the Falcon 50EX, 900B, 900EX and 2000 - "about equal", according to Dassault ...
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Air Methods eyes EMS franchises
Emergency-medical-service specialist Air Methods is discussing establishing franchise operations in Israel and Turkey. The US company already has a franchise partner, Flamingo Unimed Air Taxi Aereo, in Brazil. Air Methods is not predicting when the Israeli and Turkish medical-transport programmes could get under way, but says that discussions are ...
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Eurocopter delivers AS365 to Slovakia
Eurocopter has made its first helicopter delivery to Slovakia, after identifying a potential market for about 20 sales in the East European country. The company has handed over one AS365 Dauphin to Slovakian trade organisation Martimex. The helicopter has been bought by power company Slovenske Elektrarny. The Slovakian media ...
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Learjet 45 deliveries 'by end of January'
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Bombardier hopes to begin deliveries of the Learjet 45 business jet before the end of January. US certification was received in September 1997, nine months later than originally planned, but deliveries were delayed by completion of post-certification work, says John Holding, executive vice-president for engineering and product ...
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LEA adds Citation II
UK London Executive Aviation (LEA) has taken delivery of a Cessna Citation II business jet, to be used for air-ambulance operations, bringing to 13 the number of aircraft in the London City Airport-based firm's private charter aircraft fleet. Source: Flight International
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Dakota Aero backs Orenda
Rockwell Twin Commanders are to be re-engined with Orenda piston engines by a new company in North Dakota. Dakota Aero Manufacturers has teamed with Dick MacCoon, the engine's original developer, to offer the re-engined aircraft, to be called the Dakota Commander. MacCoon's company, MRRPM, is developing a supplemental type-certificate ...
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737 is back under FAA quality control microscope
Boeing is expecting, on 21 January, the results of a US Federal Aviation Administration audit of its quality control which was triggered - along with inspections of 211 Boeing 737s - by the unexplained crash of a SilkAir 737-300 on 19 December. The FAA's quality-assurance audit is focused on ...
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Aerospatiale reveals details of new corporate structure
Aerospatiale has unveiled a new holding company structure, paving the way for its Airbus operations to be included in the new Airbus corporate set-up, and creating a new ATR subsidiary. The new Airbus subsidiary will include the main production sites at St Nazaire, Nantes, Toulouse (Blagnac) and Méaulte, as ...