All news – Page 7945
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Racal rejigs UK battlefield-helicopter EW bid
RACAL RADAR Defence Systems has dropped plans to bid with Litton for the electronic-warfare (EW) package on the UK's attack-helicopter programme, instead unveiling its own integrated defensive-aids system (IDAS), built round its new Griffin G500 radar-warning receiver (RWR). Racal is offering the IDAS, in collaboration with Westland, as ...
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Canadian team develops investigation tool
A TEAM OF ENGINEERS at Canada's National Research Council (NRC) has developed an information-management system capable of translating data from aircraft flight recorders into computer animations. The team, based at the Flight Recorder Playback Centre, part of the NRC's Institute for Aerospace Research, developed the ADAAPS (Aircraft Data ...
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Long hot summer
The McDonnell Douglas C-17 is facing its toughest test so far. Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES It is make-or-break time for the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) C-17. The future of the military transport, and that of the US Air Force's global heavy-lift capability, hinges on the outcome of two ...
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NASA reviews space access after second Pegasus failure
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA HAS FORMED a series of teams "...to address all aspects of its strategy for access to space", following the second failure on 22 June in two launches of the new Orbital Sciences (OSC) Pegasus XL. The Administration has four spacecraft due for launches on the ...
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Chinook crash: causes debatable
Sir - I have followed with interest recent reports concerning the circumstances surrounding the Chinook accident on the Mull of Kintyre. I read the report of the Board of Inquiry. The findings are unsurprising, if not spectacularly inconclusive. Without the benefits of reports from survivors, eye witnesses, radar ...
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Are they sitting comfortably?
ASSESSMENT SERVICES IS PERFORMING electromagnetic compatibility tests on an actuator unit on behalf of UK ejection-seat manufacturer Martin-Baker. The actuator, destined for use on Dassault's Rafale fighter aircraft, is designed to ensure that the pilot is correctly positioned in the cockpit for optimum use of the aircraft's systems and displays. ...
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AMO sells more 146 leases
BRITISH AEROSPACE'S Asset Management Organisation (AMO) has placed six more BAe 146s with European and Australian operators. Swedish regional carrier Malm" Aviation is acquiring a ninth aircraft, a 146-200, on a five-year lease from September; Mistral Air has already taken delivery of a Series 100 for scheduled passenger ...
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Air Foyle plans to plug gap in cargo capacity
UK CHARTER AIRLINE Air Foyle is poised to enter the scheduled long-haul cargo business for the first time later this year. The Luton-based carrier is negotiating the dry-lease of a Boeing 747-200F freighter to begin services from London - possibly Stansted - to destinations in South-East Asia, South ...
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Coherent ground-tests 3-D laser radar
COHERENT Technologies has ground-tested an experimental three-dimensional (3-D) laser radar developed under contract to the US Air Force. The device could be used for targeting in close air-combat, for missile terminal-guidance, or in a point-defence weapon system, the USAF believes. The Boulder, Colorado-based company has been ...
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Eumetsat opens control centre
THE 17-MEMBER state European meteorological satellite organisation, Eumetsat, opened its new $37 million headquarters, including a mission control centre, in Darmstadt, Germany, on 26 June. The control centre will take over operations of Meteosat satellites on 1 December, replacing the European Space Agency's (ESA) space-operations centre, ESOC, also ...
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Clearest view of Mars
THE HUBBLE SPACE telescope has returned the clearest image of Mars taken from the Earth's vicinity, 103 million kilometres away. Most of the carbon-dioxide frost around the permanent water-ice polar cap on Mars' springtime northern hemisphere has sublimated and wispy white clouds indicate that the atmosphere is cooler than when ...
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Russia reveals Angara launcher
RUSSIA'S KHRUNICHEV company is spearheading the planned development of a new satellite launcher, the Angara, capable of placing a 26t payload into low-Earth orbit, or 4.5t directly into geostationary orbit. Funding permitting, it could be available for launch by 2000. The first stage uses the RD-170/171 liquid-oxygen and ...
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Monarch to take on Alitalia leases
Gnter Endres/LONDON MONARCH AIRLINES is on the verge of taking over the contentious wet-leased Boeing 767-300ER operation, now provided by Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services on behalf of Alitalia. The new deal is an extension of a long-standing agreement between Monarch and Ansett, under which the UK ...
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Eurocontrol 'on target' with ATC goals
Julian Moxon/BRUSSELS EUROCONTROL HAS inaugurated its new ECU 117 million ($87.5 million) Brussels centre with assurances that measures to improve Europe's air-traffic-control (ATC) system are "very much on target". Located near the Brussels airport at Haren, the building brings together Eurocontrol's headquarters, the Central Flow Management ...
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Coltec to buy AlliedSignal landing-gear business
COLTEC INDUSTRIES, parent of undercarriage supplier Menasco, has agreed to buy AlliedSignal's aircraft landing-gear business, and form a strategic alliance to develop landing-gear systems. The deal, which includes development and production of landing gear for the McDonnell Douglas F-18E/F, makes Menasco the leading supplier of undercarriage for US ...
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Embraer forced to impose job cuts
Brian Homewood/RIO DE JANIERO BRAZILIAN AIRCRAFT manufacturer Embraer, privatised in late 1994, is to make 1,700 of its 5,550 employees redundant in a bid to cut costs, says president Juaraz de Siqueira Britto Wanderley. The redundancies, most of which will be voluntary, began in June. ...
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Rockwell ties up Australian ASTA purchase
ROCKWELL International has completed the purchase of state-owned AeroSpace Technologies of Australia (ASTA), in a deal which values the aerostructures and defence business at A$40 million ($29 million). Rockwell has drawn up a business plan which outlines the transfer of A$130 million in additional aerostructures work to ASTA ...
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Japanese sign up for K-MAX deal
KAMAN AEROSPACE has signed a deal to distribute the K-MAX external-lift helicopter in Japan. Japanese distribution company Kyokuto Boeki Kaisha (KBK) has purchased one K-MAX for delivery in October and taken options on four more. The contract, which includes a refurbished Kaman H-43 Husky for use as a ...
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Australia cuts price of Qantas
THE AUSTRALIAN Government has slashed the expected price of its remaining 75% stake in Qantas, in a bid to boost the privatisation, which has been flagging in the face of weak financial markets and expectations of a poorer operating performance from the airline group. Estimates for the price ...
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VASP to expand MD-11 fleet
BRAZILIAN AIRLINE VASP has placed firm orders for two McDonnell Douglas (MDC) MD-11s and announced long-term plans to operate a fleet of up to ten of the tri-jets. The Sao Paulo-based carrier took delivery of its first MD-11 in February 1992 and is revising its fleet plans after ...