Fixed-wing – Page 1362
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News
Meggitt displays Gulfstream deal
Andrew Doyle/FAREHAM GULFSTREAM HAS selected Meggitt Aerospace's secondary flight-display system as an option for its GIV and GV business jets, following the completion of flight trials earlier this year. The deal follows Cessna's recent decision to include the system in the Citation X business jet. The ...
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USAF tackles F-16 yaw problem
A US AIR FORCE TEST team at Edwards AFB, California, is investigating unusually high yaw rates on some Lantirn-equipped Block 40 versions of the Lockheed Martin F-16C. The F-16 Combined Test Force (CTF) is now into the second phase of an investigation which began when aircraft fitted with ...
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Germany begins MiG-29 maintenance work
THE RUSSO-GERMAN MIG AIRCRAFT Product Support (MAPS) joint venture has received the first Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter for maintenance work at its site in Manching, southern Germany. The aircraft delivered on 16 October, belongs to the German air force's 73 fighter squadron and is one of 24 MiG-29s in German service, ...
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F-22 cockpit passes USAF evaluation
PILOTS FROM US Air Force Air Combat Command have completed a "highly successful" evaluation of the cockpit design for the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22. The seven-pilot cockpit-evaluation team consists of a customer review board established to ensure that the design meets USAF requirements. The part-task simulation test, the fifth ...
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French industry warns of crisis as budget cuts bite
THE FRENCH aerospace industry has launched a concerted campaign to head off the threat of further cuts in the country's defence budget, warning that a round of massive job cuts and plant closures will follow. The campaign comes in response to growing fears that the Chirac Government is ...
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Kuwaiti UH-60L purchase falters
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Graham Warwick/ATLANTA SIKORSKY'S EFFORT to sell an armed version of its UH-60L Black Hawk to Kuwait is being blocked by the US Department of Defense (DoD), which is reluctant to release laser-designator systems for export to the Gulf state, say sources close ...
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Hunter becomes the hunted
THE US DEPARTMENT of Defense is deciding whether to follow a Joint Requirements Oversight Council's recommendation to terminate the $4 billion Hunter Joint Tactical unmanned air-vehicle (UAV) programme. The view of the influential Pentagon advisory body could be the final nail in the Hunter's coffin. The programme was ...
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Thais want F-18s with AMRAAM
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE THAILAND HAS ISSUED a formal letter of request (LoR) for an initial eight McDonnell Douglas (MDC) F-18C/Ds, with the proviso that the deal includes the Hughes AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM). The US Navy's foreign-military sales (FMS) office is now understood to ...
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News
Saudis open talks for 70 C-130Js
SAUDI ARABIA HAS opened talks with Lockheed Martin on the possible purchase of up to 70 C-130J Hercules 2 transports over ten years. The Saudi fleet of more than 40 C-130E/Hs would be replaced and additional KC-130 aerial-refuelling tankers acquired. Lockheed Martin rolled out the C-130J on 18 ...
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Ready to roll
Lockheed Martin will roll out the C-130J Hercules amid signs that its private-venture gamble to upgrade the Hercules may yet pay off. Graham Warwick/MARIETTA LOCKHEED MARTIN'S first C-130J Hercules II transport is in "good shape" for the roll-out on 18 October, says programme director ...
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UK/Swedish design team promised backing
A UK-SWEDISH design team has won the promise of financial support from South Africa's Orange Free State Government to develop and manufacture a six-seat utility/executive aircraft featuring a rhombic tandem-wing design. Dubbed the TW-18, the pusher-propeller design includes a shoulder-mounted wing, swept back to join at the tips ...
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NHI considers helicopter cost-cutting alternatives
NH INDUSTRIES (NHI) is working on a menu of equipment options for the NH-90 transport helicopter in a bid to offer reduced unit costs to both domestic and export customers. While the Dutch, French, German and Italian governments involved in the NH-90 are fully committed to funding the ...
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Turks seek regional-aircraft partners
TURKISH AEROSPACE Industries (TAI) is looking for partners to help it develop a small commuter aircraft to open up regional routes within Turkey. The company is now putting forward the 19-seat HD-19 fly-by-wire widebody commuter to meet a market demand which it believes will be created by the ...
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News
USA may give F-16A/Bs to Poland
Douglas Barrie/LONDON POLAND MAY be given up to 30 Lockheed Martin F-16A/Bs, according to a proposal now under consideration by the US Government. The scheme, if approved, would set a precedent for F-16 sales throughout Eastern Europe. The "no-cost-lease" approach being pushed by Lockheed Martin would ...
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News
Boeing plans commercial Chinook revival in China
BOEING IS negotiating with Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing (HAMC) to restart production of the 234 Commercial Chinook in China. According to local sources, Boeing has proposed establishing a full 234 production line in Harbin, northern China. The deal is understood to include providing plans for HAMC to build its ...
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GEC-Marconi plans test-flight for Super Skyranger
GEC-MARCONI PLANS to test-fly its improved multi-mode Super Skyranger radar by mid-1996, installed in a modified Chengdu F-7M Airguard fighter. The system is a further development of GEC-Marconi's Skyranger ranging radar, already in service on the Chinese F-7. The Super Skyranger is intended as a low-cost direct replacement ...
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Jordanian Air Force will receive ex-USAF F-16A/Bs
THE ROYAL JORDANIAN Air Force (RJAF) is to receive its first squadron of ex-US Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16A/B fighters within the next 12 months. An announcement by US President Bill Clinton covering the agreement was expected early in October, but was delayed. Despite this, sources say the ...
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Pakistan nears FC-1 avionics decision
COMPETING WESTERN manufacturers expect Pakistan to select radar, an avionics suite and a systems integrator before the end of the year for its planned FC-1 (MiG-21) fighter now being developed by Chengdu Aircraft. The FC-1 is a successor to the now-defunct Super 7 project, and it is intended ...
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Boeing to add pods to KC-135 tanker
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US AIR FORCE HAS awarded Boeing Defense & Space Group a contract which could lead to as many as 96 of its Boeing KC-135 tankers being fitted with wing-mounted "hose-and-drogue" refuelling pods. The company has been awarded a $24 million engineering and ...
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McDonnell Douglas wins JDAM bomb competition
THE US AIR FORCE has selected McDonnell Douglas Aerospace (MDA) to develop the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and produce guidance kits which convert free-fall bombs into precision-guided weapons. MDA had competed against Lockheed Martin to produce the global-positioning/inertial-navigation guidance kits for as many as 74,000 US Air ...