All news – Page 7381
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NASAselects two satellites to study...
NASA has selected two small, low-cost, satellites to study the distribution of the Earth's forests and the variability of its gravity field under a new Office of Mission to Planet Earth, Earth System Science Pathfinders, programme. The vegetation-canopy lidar (VCL) mission will use a multibeam laser-ranging device to ...
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Engineering dominance
LOOK AT FIGHTER evolution in 25-year steps, and the technological advance which can occur in a quarter-century is obvious. The 1915 Fokker DVII, 1940 North American P-51 and 1965 McDonnell Douglas F-4 were each the dominant fighters of their age, and illustrate the advances that have been achieved. Another 25 ...
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Challenging evolution
WHEN THE US Air Force began defining its requirement for an air-superiority fighter to replace the McDonnell Douglas F-15, the world was a very different place. The Soviet Union still existed and Iraq was just a minor Middle Eastern power. The major regional conflict had not yet replaced superpower confrontation ...
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Integrating information
LOW-OBSERVABLE AIR superiority places severe requirements on avionics that can only be met by the degree of integration evident in the F-22, says Marty Broadwell, deputy avionics team-leader. "We are collecting snippets of information, with minimum illumination, pencil beams, sensors that are passive or barely on. Alone, ...
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Arming from the inside
CHALLENGING WEIGHT and cost goals have been met by the F-22's armament-system design team while ensuring that the aircraft ultimately will be able to perform missions other than air superiority. The first of those extra missions, near-precision strike using the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), already has been added to ...
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Painting by numbers
BUILDING L-64 AT Marietta is not a paint shop, although it is here that F-22s will be finished before being towed across the road for radar cross-section verification ready for first flight. Each F-22 is expected to spend about 20 days in this building, where the elaborate, ...
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Testing for combat
DEMONSTRATING THAT he F-22 is at least twice as effective in combat as the F-15, as required by contract, will require a combination of wargaming, simulation and flight testing. Computer modelling is being used to develop a statistical basis for the comparison, with almost 1 million simulated engagements already ...
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Supplying a total system
DEVELOPING SUPPORT and training systems concurrently with the aircraft and engine has allowed designers to take advantage of the capabilities of the F-22's integrated avionics. The aircraft has extensive onboard diagnostics, required for sensor fusion and fault tolerance, which can be used to eliminate ground-support equipment, while the flight software ...
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Airbus offers extended-range HGW A330-300s
Airbus Industrie is actively offering an increased weight, extended range derivative of the A330-300 twinjet, as final assembly of the first A330-200 progresses at Toulouse. The range of the new high-gross-weight (HGW) version of the -300 would typically be boosted by some 1,300km (700nm) to around 10,200km. The ...
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Ten years after Lavi
Ovadia Harari has come a considerable distance in the decade since the Israeli Government dumped the Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)Lavi fighter project. Then project manager on the Lavi, Harari is now general manager of IAI's military aircraft group. Both Harari and IAIhave moved on since the decision was ...
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EJI adds to Gulfstream IV-SP order
Executive Jet Inter-national (EJI), the US business aircraft fractional ownership organisation, has contracted for 11 more Gulfstream IV-SPs, taking its orders for the model to 27. The new agreement, which includes one additional aircraft for delivery in 1997, accelerates the exercising of five GIV-SP options due in 1999, ...
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BFGoodrich plans a low-cost GATCAS...
BFGOODRICH PLANS to launch a low-cost traffic-alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS) for general-aviation aircraft at the Experimental Aircraft Association's Sun 'n' Fun fly-in, which is taking place in Florida until 12 April. The Skywatch system is aimed at high-end piston singles and twins and is expected to cost ...
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FAA demands an inspection of...
Following in-flight separation of a large section of a Delta Air Lines Boeing 767 wing-flap, more than 200 of the type worldwide have to undergo emergency inspection. The event occurred on a 27 March approach to Dallas/Forth Worth (DFW) Airport, Texas, and the pilots reported no problems countering the resulting ...
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Boeing chases Paris launch for 777-200/300X
Boeing has presented 777-200X/300X proposals to four major US and Asian airlines in an effort to launch the planned long-range twin derivatives in time for the Paris air show in June. At the same time Rolls-Royce (R-R) has become the second powerplant manufacturer to sign an agreement to offer a ...
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Arianespace faces board power struggle
Europe's Arianespace commercial-launcher venture is embroiled in a board-room power struggle over the appointment of a successor for long-standing chairman Charles Bigot, with French space agency CNES attempting to push through its own candidate against the firm's wishes. The company is reported to have been infuriated by CNES ...
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Delta selects Trent to power Boeing 777s
Rolls-Royce has secured its first US airline customer for the Trent 800, with the selection by Delta Air Lines of the Trent 892 to power its ten optioned Boeing 777-200s. The US carrier has placed a $500 million contract with General Electric to power the Boeing 767 component of the ...
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Lockheed 'can claw back' Raptor cost
Lockheed Martin is confident that it can contain the price of the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor air-superiority fighter, despite warnings from the US Department of Defense (DoD) that the US Air Force faces additional costs running into billions of dollars. F-22 programme manager Tom Burbage says cost-cutting initiatives ...
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Fokker Aviation selects R-R Tay 620 for re-engined F28
Fokker Aviation has selected the Rolls-Royce Tay 620 engine for its proposed F28RE re-engineing programme, and is now entering final negotiations with the engine manufacturer. The engine, which has been chosen over the BMW Rolls-Royce BR710 and General Electric CF34-8C, already powers the F28's successors, the Fokker 70 ...
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KTX-II funding frozen as delays continue
Lockheed Martin has told South Korea that it intends to halt funding for the KTX-II advanced jet-trainer/ light-combat aircraft at the end of June, in the face of continuing Korean Government indecision on launching full-scale development of the programme. The US manufacturer is understood to have decided finally ...
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UK Labour party commits to numbers for EF2000
The UK Labour Party's shadow secretary of state for defence, David Clark, has written to German defence minister Volker Rühe committing the UK to procuring at least 232 Eurofighter EF2000 combat aircraft, and urging that Germany push ahead as quickly as possible with the programme. Clark, who is ...