Helicopters – Page 474
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German move destablises FLA
Germany has dealt the credibility of the European Future Large Aircraft programme a considerable blow by demanding that the Ukrainian Antonov An-70 transport be re-examined as the basis for a collaborative project with Airbus Industrie. Volker Rühe, the German defence minister, is pushing for the An-70 to be ...
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Persistent ambitions
Unmanned combat-aircraft are coming, but they will not be going into battle any time in the too-near future. Harsh lessons learned developing relatively simple and inexpensive unmanned air-vehicles (UAVs) have made manufacturers and operators alike extremely cautious in planning the introduction of more costly and sophisticated uninhabited combat air-vehicles (UCAVs). ...
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Stand back
Third time lucky? That would appear to be the case when it comes to the latest US attempt to enter the Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (J-STARS) in the UK's Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) competition. Having been kicked out on two previous occasions, some transatlantic political ...
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USAF considers DC-X and X-33 for military-spaceplane testing
Boeing and Lockheed Martin have received US Air Force contracts to begin developing technologies and concepts for a military spaceplane. The Integrated Technology Testbed programme is aimed at demonstrating military-spaceplane operational concepts early next century. Boeing's demonstrator concept uses a re-usable rapid-response launch vehicle, derived from ...
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J-STARS pitched back into ASTOR battle
Douglas Barrie/LONDON The UK is to reconsider the Northrop Grumman Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (J-STARS) to meet its Airborne Stand-off Radar System (ASTOR) requirement, following a political deal hammered out in September. The E-8 J-STARS bid was eliminated from the UK competition on technical ...
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Saab sets its jet deadline
Saab's days as a turboprop manufacturer are numbered, with the Swedish company working to an early 1998 deadline to join one of two regional jet programmes. Gert Schyborger, Saab Aircraft's president, confirms that the struggling 2000 programme will be the company's last turboprop venture and says he will ...
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Tilt-rotor licences
The first civil powered-lift pilot ratings have been awarded by the US Federal Aviation Administration to test pilots flying the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey military tilt-rotor. Source: Flight International
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European navies worry about Harrier arms
Andrea Spinelli/GENOA Italian and Spanish navies are voicing increasing concern over the weapons for their Boeing AV-8B Harrier II Plus aircraft. Friction with the US Marine Corps is starting to rise as differing priorities between the programme partners are becoming increasingly apparent. Overtures from ...
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Expanded Helitech
Opening times Helitech '97 will be open on Tuesday, 30 September-Thursday, 2 October: 09.30-18.00; and Friday, 3 October: Kate Sarsfield/London The 7th International Helicopter Technology and Operations Exhibition (Helitech) will host a helicopter industry leaner and more optimistic than it has been in recent ...
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'Hypercomputing' may revolutionise aircraft design
Ian Sheppard/LONDON Massively parallel computing, or "hypercomputing", methods which are expected to revolutionise the design of future aircraft and missiles, including the next-generation high-speed civil transport (HSCT) and the US Tomahawk land-attack-missile replacement, are now being developed. NASA's Conceptual Design of Air Vehicles Hypercomputing and Design ...
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Greek fighter force
Rene van Woezik/Athens While recent Greek interest in the Boeing F-15 Eagle and Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker may have caught the eye, the core of its air force's combat fleet into the first decade of the next century will be built around the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D, deliveries of which ...
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Lockheed Martin offers Boeing support
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Lockheed Martin is talking to Boeing about a partnership under which it would support the latter's commercial aircraft at its maintenance centres around the world. Aeronautics sector president Micky Blackwell says that Lockheed Martin wants to expand on soon-to-be-acquired Northrop Grumman's role as ...
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GEC steps up Il-76 AEW efforts
Paul Lewis/BEIJING GEC-Marconi is stepping up efforts to obtain an Ilyushin Il-76 transport from Russia to modify as an airborne-early-warning (AEW) aircraft for China in the face of Israel Aircraft Industries' (IAI's) recent success in acquiring a similar platform for its rival Phalcon radar. It is ...
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Boeing rolls out model of Space Maneuver Vehicle
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing and the US Air Force's Phillips Laboratory have rolled out a 90%-scale test version of the Space Maneuver Vehicle (SMV) at the former Rockwell site in Seal Beach, California. The SMV is now being prepared for flight tests in November at Holloman AFB, New ...
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Demand for cuts may delay JASDF tanker plans
Paul Lewis/Singapore Demands for the Japan Defence Agency (JDA) to cut expenditure over the three remaining years of its 1996-2000 mid-term plan is threatening further delays for the Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) in its plans for the acquisition of its first in-flight refuelling tanker. The ...
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USNavy sinks Adour plan
Plans to transfer assembly of Rolls-Royce Turboméca Adour 871 (F405) engines to R-R's US subsidiary Allison Engine have been suspended after the US Navy killed the effort by calling it "unnecessarily risky". The decision comes as a blow to Allison, which has been working on the transfer plan ...
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Boeing talks up its MD-95
Boeing talks up its MD-95 fter clearing the last regulatory hurdle in Brussels at the eleventh hour, the newly merged Boeing-McDonnell Douglas is making one last bid to breathe new life into marketing efforts for the MD-95. The 'new' Boeing, which began operations on 4 August, has a ...
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GE details F110 programme for F-15/F-16
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES General Electric plans to run a signiÌcantly upgraded version of its F110-129 engine as early as the last quarter of 1998 if the United Arab Emirates (UAE) selects the proposed Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 60 with its engine rather than the competing Pratt & Whitney F100-229. The ...
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Boeing studies composite primary-wing technology
Guy Norris/Los Angeles Boeing Commercial Airplane Group is drawing on expertise at the former McDonnell Douglas (MDC) Phantom Works to study composite primary wing structures. Before the recent merger, Boeing and MDC were separately involved in NASA's $130million Advanced Composites Technology (ACT) effort. MDC focused on ...
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Antonov An-70 has its public debut at show
The Kiev Aviant plant in Ukraine has started to raise funds to finance a commercial version of the Antonov An-70 four-propfan military transport, the An-70T, according to plant manager Alexander Kharlov. Aviant is collaborating with the Aviakor plant in Samara, Russia, in preparing the An-70 for series production. ...