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Aviation History
1983
1983 - 0418.PDF
WORLD NEWS 747-300 deliveries begin EVERETT ~ Swissair and UTA have taken delivery of the first two Boe ing 747-300s, reports Chris Kjelgaard. Certification of the new stretched upper deck 747 variant was announced by Boeing on March 4, UTA's aircraft embarked on its ferry flight on March 2. Swissair, launch customer for the type, ferried its first aircraft from Everett on March 5. At the same time that full certification was announced, Boeing revealed that Japan Air Lines has ordered two 747-300s. JAL was a pre viously unannounced cus tomer for the type. Boeing holds an unannounced order for a further 747-300. The first 747-300 for South African Airways is now in flight test at Everett, while SIA's first is nearing com pletion. Two Swissair aircraft are complete—the airline fer ried the number two aircraft first. These two are Combis, while the other three the air line has on order will have full-length passenger cabins. The extended upper decks of Swissair's 747-300s will each seat 69 economy class passengers. The 747-300 fea tures a new wide straight stairway to the upper deck, re placing the spiral staircase of earlier 747s. The stairwell has been relocated next to the number two door. Boeing says that the 747-300's improved upper- fuselage aerodynamics and the type's new JT9D-7R4G2 or CF6-50E2 engines will pro duce a Mach 0.01 cruise speed improvement and a reduction of about 1 per cent in fuel con sumption on current prod uction 747-200Bs. This trans lates to a fuel burn per passenger improvement of about 10 per cent. But the 747-200Bs Swissair operates are early aircraft. The airline believes that it will save about 10 per cent in absolute fuel burn with the 747-300, compared with its -200Bs at the same payload. This would give fuel savings of about 15 tonnes on a Zurich- New York return trip, or about $2 million per aircraft a year. Flight-testing of the Pratt & Whitney PW2037 has begun this week. The deuelopment engine is installed on Boeing's 747 demonstrator. Certifica tion of the P W2037 is scheduled for December Finland buys RBS15 HELSINKI Finland has become the first export customer for the Saab- Bofors RBS15 anti-ship missile. Four new Helsinki- class combat vessels will each be equipped with eight box- launched RBSl5Ms. Finnish press reports estimate the value of this missile order to be FIM200 million (£24 million). The four vessels are being built in Finland, and all are due to be in service by 1987. Finnish industry expects to win offset work against the missile order. Advanced technology and anticipated high performance well into the 1990s are under stood to have been the main factors in the Finnish Navy's missile choice. Other con tenders for the order included the IAI Gabriel, Soviet SS-N- 2 Styx, McDonnell Douglas Harpoon, and Aerospatiale Exocet. • Norway has placed its fourth order with Bofors for the RBS70 man-portable laser-guided surface-to-air missile. The SKr315 million (£28 million) contract in cludes two options of "considerable magnitude". Kongsberg Vapenfabrikk has signed an RBS70 co- production agreement with Bofors. Gripengets green light STOCKHOLM Sweden's new Government has given its formal go-ahead for the JAS 39 Gripen multi- role combat aircraft. Although the Social Democrats said even while in opposition that they were in favour of Gripen, they conducted a full eco nomic investigation before giving their formal stamp of approval. The JAS Industry Group received the Gripen devel opment contract last June. This is based on a cost of SKr25,800 million (£2,300 million) in February 1981 Krone, which includes pro duction of 140 aircraft by the year 2000. Sweden's new Defence Minister, Anders Thurnborg, reveals that SKr2,600 million of this sum is a reserve, mainly against currency fluc tuations. The Swedish Air Force also has SKrl.800 mil lion of reserves in its budgets until 2000. Although this leaves a margin for cost esca lation, Thurnborg reserves the right to reduce the number of aircraft to 130, or to take away some capability, if his cost scrutinies reveal over runs. The Government JAS 39 policy assumes that Sweden's defence budget is not reduced in future years. The defence budget for the year ending June 30 is SKrl8,100 million—7.2 per cent of Gov ernment spending. Gripen is being developed' by the JAS Industry Group, which comprises Saab- Scania, Volvo, LM Ericsson, SRA Communications, and FFV. The aircraft should fly in 1987, and service entry in strike, attack, and recon naissance roles is due in 1992. Soviets test new ICBM PLESETSK The Soviet Union's latest in tercontinental ballistic mis sile (ICBM) has been test fired successfully at Plesetsk. Four re-entry bodies were ob served emanating from the small, solid-propellant missile, which is fired from a mobile launcher. Four Soviet ICBMs are reported to be under develop ment, but the large solid- fuelled missile failed its first test last October. Develop ment of more than one new ICBM is forbidden by the Salt 2 arms limitation treaty. • Nato observers report that the Soviet Union is building two new missile sites which will allow 18 more SS-20 intermediate-range ballistic missiles to be targeted at Western Europe. Engines pinch Shuttle schedule WASHINGTON D.C. Nasa's next Space Shuttle launch is now planned for late this month, and could be de layed even further. Fractures in a pipe carrying hydrogen within each Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) are to blame. Diligent inspectors found the fault in the two Challenger SSMEs that were unaffected by a hydrogen leak in the third powerplant. Since the latest fracture is believed to have been caused by a widespread modification, its cure could have a big impact on Shuttle launches this year. 634 FLIGHT International, 12 March 1983
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