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2000-04-15, Jag_22: HYPER-X HYPERSONIC EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH VEHICLE Artist's Rendering of HYPER-X PROJECT SUMMARY Hyper-X, NASA's multi-year hypersonic flight research program, seeks to overcome one of the greatest aeronautical research challenges - air-breathing hypersonic flight. Far outpacing contemporary aircraft of supersonic capability, three X-43A vehicles will fly at speeds of Mach 7 and 10. Ultimately, the revolutionary technologies exposed by the Hyper-X Program promise to increase payload capacities and reduce costs for future air and space vehicles. MicroCraft, Inc. of Tullahoma, Tenn., is the industry partner chosen by NASA to construct the X-43 vehicles. The contract award announcement occurred on March 24, 1997, with construction of the vehicles beginning soon thereafter. Orbital Sciences Corporation's Launch Vehicles Division in Chandler, Ariz. will construct the Hyper-X launch vehicles. The Hyper-X Phase I program — an agency-wide effort to address one of the greatest aeronautical research challenges…

2000-04-15, Jag_22: Israel Won't Cancel Spy Plane Deal Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) - Visiting Chinese president Jiang Zemin has been given assurances that Israel will not cancel the sale of an early warning aircraft to China despite American pressure. In a meeting with Jiang, Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Israel values the Chinese market too much to risk it by backing out of a signed contract. Jiang continues his six-day official visit to Israel today, meeting with President Ezer Weizman at the Dead Sea and touring the nearby desert. Israel and China signed a contract three years ago for an Israeli-made PHALCON radar system mounted on a Russian Ilyushin airplane. In recent months the United States has been pressing Israel to cancel the deal, fearing it would upset the delicate balance of power between China and Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province. PHALCON is an airborne radar system that, like the American-made AWACS system, gives early warning of approaching attack aircraft. The speaker of Israel's…

2000-04-14, Jag_22: Boeing Installs Engine in JSF X-32A Demonstrator Aircraft These images are available for editorial use by news media on Boeing Media PALMDALE, Calif., April 11, 2000 — The Boeing Joint Strike Fighter One Team has installed the engine that will power the Boeing JSF X-32A concept demonstrator through flight testing. Designated the YF004, the engine has successfully completed 45 hours of acceptance testing at engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney's (UTX) facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. "We projected a day to install the exhaust system into the airframe, but we did it in less than two hours," said Steve Kyle, Boeing JSF propulsion manager. "We also planned a day to install and pin the engine, and that took only four hours. "We used 3D design tools throughout the development program to simulate engine installation. This kind of installation performance is the product of our lean processes. It demonstrates how our effective engine removal and installation concept will sustain high JSF sortie rates in fleet…

2000-04-14, Jag_22: Greece orders 60 Typhoons The Greek government made a decision on the 8th of March to order 60 Eurofighter Typhoons for Greece. The deliveries will take place in 2005 - 2009. There is an option for 30 more fighters. In addition to Typhoons Greece has ordered 50 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 50+ flighters. These deliveries will commence in late 2002 and continue for two years. Copyright Eurofighter news

2000-04-14, Jag_22: Additional Exports May Sustain F-15 Production Line Defense Daily reports that Saudi Arabia is mulling a possible purchase of 6-12 F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft. This would apparently be an attrition/follow-on order to complement 72 F-15S models ordered by the Saudis in 1993. The F-15S differs from its E stablemate primarily in its ground attack software, which has been modified to reduce capabilities in certain attack modes. Boeing has delivered all of the F-15S variants. The Republic of Korea is also looking at the F-15E and reportedly will dispatch a team to the United States this fall to evaluate the aircraft for its upcoming FX fighter competition. The Boeing candidate is competing against the Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale, and the Russian-designed Sukhoi Su-35 for the RoK requirement. Source: Defense Daily

2000-04-14, Jag_22: Lockheed Martin Launches JSF Avionics Flying Test Bed Advanced Capability Demonstrations Reduce Risk and Cost in EMD FORT WORTH, Texas — In late February, the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) team began airborne testing of its prototype multisensor avionics as part of the JSF Concept Demonstration program. Testing is being conducted in Northrop Grumman’s Cooperative Avionics Test Bed (CATB), a modified BAC 1-11 aircraft, from their facilities in Baltimore, Md. Airborne testing is required to reduce risk by factoring in dynamic, real-world effects on sensor performance that cannot be adequately reproduced in simulations or ground testing. "We expect the tests to provide a significant amount of valuable data on our advanced sensor suite," said Frank J. Cappuccio, vice president and Lockheed Martin JSF program manager. "The data will be fed into our cost-effectiveness design tradeoff models to ensure we have a low-risk, highly capable, yet affordable, next-generation fighter. With the flawless…

2000-04-14, Jag_22: Scientists Developing Powerful Nanostructured Explosives by William B. Scott Aviation Week & Space Technology 04/13/00 09:24:48 PM U.S. EDT Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists are using aerogels — very light, almost smoke-like substances — to develop "nanostructured energetic materials" for powerful conventional explosives. Typically, "energetics" are either high-energy density or high-power, but not both. "We can make a high-explosive material that has twice the energy density of a nuclear weapon, but the power is significantly less," said Randy Simpson, the lab's High Explosives Program Manager. By reducing crystallinity from the 100-micron to 10-30-nanometer scale, "we produce both high energy density and high power. Aerogels have tremendous surface area, so we can make an aerogel of oxidizer, then surround it with fuel...to make a complete oxidizer-fuel system." With both in close proximity at nanometer scales, powerful explosive reactions can occur very quickly — ideal for advanced…

2000-04-14, Jag_22: NASA, National Institute Of Cancer Team on Nanotechology by Dee Ann Divis 04/13/00 04:39:43 PM U.S. EDT Nanotechnology will be the subject of a new cooperative research effort between NASA and the National Institute of Cancer. The two organizations signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington, D.C., today to help each other develop tiny machines for detecting and curing illness. NASA's interest is in developing microscopic medical devices to help keep astronauts healthy on multi-year space missions. “This is going to be the key to being able to send people responsibly away for 2-4 years,” said NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin. “What we are concerned about is that we just can't take enough equipment on a space vehicle to Mars, so we want to deal with medicine at the subcell and cellular level.” First-year funding for the program will be in the tens of thousands of dollars, primarily to fund grants to researchers. Copyright AviationNow.com

2000-04-14, Jag_22: Mysterious YF-113G Was Actually A MiG-23 by David A. Fulghum Aviation Week & Space Technology 04/13/00 06:19:10 PM U.S. EDT The U.S. Air Force's classified YF-113G aircraft was a MiG-23, not an early effort to explore radar-evading technologies, as reported last week. The existence of the aircraft was verified by one service official, but a second had mistakenly identified it as a U.S. stealth testbed that was abandoned by the early 1980s. The YF-113G designation was assigned to MiG-23s — a fighter built in the Soviet bloc that NATO code-named "Flogger" — flown clandestinely by two special projects units. The aircraft flew in the late 1970s along with "a whole range of aircraft that have operated [on the Nellis test ranges] for years," a senior Air Force official said. An air traffic controller at Nellis AFB, Nev., who retired in 1981, told Aviation Week & Space Technology that pilots from a squadron called the Red Hats operated Soviet-bloc aircraft with the designations, among others, of…

2000-04-05, Serge Pod: Two Turkish F-16s Crash by Metehan Demir 04/05/00 06:49:38 AM U.S. EDT Two Turkish air force F-16C fighters crashed just after they collided during a night training flight Tuesday night near the Anatolian city of Sivas. Both pilots, who managed to eject from their aircraft, were rescued four hours after the crash. But one died this morning as a result of injuries sustained. The incident occurred at 9:05 p.m. local time (3:05 p.m. Eastern) during a night-time, close formation training exercise. Witnesses said the wings of both aircraft touched each other. An investigation is underway. Since the start of Turkish co-production of Lockheed Martin F-16s 14 years ago, a total of ten F-16s built in Turkey under license have crashed. Turkey’s inventory now stands at 230. Aviation, Defense and Space News, Jobs, Conferences by AVIATION WEEK

2000-04-04, Serge Pod: Russian Defense Debts Will be Paid: Klebanov and Putin During a recent visit to a defense plant in Saratov, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Klebanov was reported as saying that the Federal government would enter 2001 without any outstanding debts to the defense industries and undertook not to repeat such shortfalls in the future. Klebanov did, however, mention that some of the state-owned defense enterprises might be reorganized into joint stock companies, although he denied this was a prelude to privatization. More detail of reorganization was promised in a plan being presented by acting President Putin at a conference in Nizhni Novgorod. The meeting at Nizhni Novgorod took place behind closed doors with 200 directors from the country's leading defense companies, and according to reports "specified the requirements the government had for the enterprises in terms of defense orders and also reminded the companies what capacity the government expected them to retain for defense production." It is difficult to…

2000-04-04, Serge Pod: Ruslan Market Continues to Grow This year Volga-Dnepr (VD), the largest civilian user of An-124 Ruslan, celebrates 10 years since foundation. Since 1990, VD has fulfilled 1,700 orders, having transported 300,000 t of cargo and having visited 400 airports around the world. The airline was established in August 1990 and a year after entered the international market with a totally new product - conveyance of bulky, heavy cargoes on the world's largest operational cargo plane. Created by Antonov design bureau under the appropriate order from the Soviet Defense Ministry, the An-124 Ruslan provided a base for creation of its civilian version, the An-124-100, which began working the market of unique bulky cargoes in 1989. Having a cargo cabin volume of 1,270 cu.m, the 390-tonne giant is able to transport 120 t of freight 4,800 km or 80 t 8,400 km at a speed of 800 kmh with an hourly fuel consumption of 10 t. Now VD has a fleet of nine An-124s and is going to take delivery of a tenth airplane new from Aviastar…

2000-04-04, Serge Pod: Interview With MiG's Nikitin By Vovick Karnozov AWN Moscow-based columnist Interview with Nikolai Nikitin, general director and general designer of RSK MiG AWN: The French and Russian governments came to terms on a Fr 400 million for the program of the MiG AT jet trainer. What portion of that money and in which form will come to RSK MiG? Nikitin: Yes, the press reported on that fact. Our company just mentioned about this in one of our press-releases. We have not released any additional information on it, restricting ourselves to the very fact. Let me remind you that the first body to broadcast information on that interstate agreement was the press service of the White House (here: House of the Russian government). We continue to keep silent about it. So, no comments. AWN: Are you satisfied with work of the AL-41F engines on the Article 1.44? Nikitin: The aircraft you are talking about is an experimental air vehicle, technology demonstrator. It was specially built to test new equipment. Such aircraft are…

2000-04-04, Serge Pod: Air Force Group Commander Awarded Hero of Russia President-elect Vladimir Putin has conferred the title of the Hero of Russia on Lieutenant-General Valery Gorbenko, commander of the 4th Air Force and Ani-Aircraft Defence army, source in the Air Force Headquarters told the press. Gorbenko was given the Russia's highest award for personal courage and for commanding the federal aviation group in the Northern Caucasus. Other 657 air force servicemen received state awards for courage shown during the special operation in Dagestan and Chechnya. Three of them became Heroes of Russia, 33 were awarded the Order of Courage, 125 the Order of Military Merit, and 496 were given various medals, the source added. //AVN http://www.gazeta.ru/intnews.sht ml#1373

2000-04-01, Serge Pod: Lockheed Martin JSF Team begins radar signature testing 29 March 2000 Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) team has begun radar cross section (RCS) testing of a full-scale aircraft pole model at Lockheed Martin's remote Helendale Measurement Facility in California. The model, known as SigMA (short for Signature Measurement Aircraft), is the culmination of a series of signature demonstrations validating affordability and risk reduction for the next phase of the JSF programme, Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD). "The SigMA configuration was developed directly from our Preferred Weapon System Concept design, which continues its strong linkage to our X-35 demonstrator aircraft and will be highly representative of our EMD proposal configuration,'' said Henry J. Levine, vice president and deputy for JSF operations. The planned testing will measure aircraft RCS and the performance of various antennas on the aircraft. Tests also will demonstrate the robustness of supportable low observable (SLO)…

2000-04-01, Serge Pod: Farnborough International 2000 looms 31 March 2000 Farnborough International 2000 (FI2000) will be bigger and better than ever. Exhibition space is sold out Because of the great demand for space by Exhibitors, the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) the organiser, has provided an additional 13% of indoor space to that at Farnborough International 1998 (FI98). Amanda Stainer, SBAC's Head of Exhibitions, says: "FI98 exceeded all expectations. The huge increase in both exhibitor and trade visitor attendance resulted in the SBAC's biggest and best show in the last decade. FI2000 is already showing every indication that it will be even better." FI2000 will be held in July this year, rather than its traditional September slot. The trade days are 24th-28th July with the two public days on 29th and 30th July. Peter Taylor, SBAC's Director of Exhibitions, says: "The move to July will bring warmer weather. The SBAC has made a major investment of Ј500,000 to cool the 70,000 sq.m. of exhibition space to make…

2000-03-22, Serge Pod: Light Airplane Used by Rebels Discovered in Grozny Russian federal police officers discovered a short take-off and landing reconnaissance airplane of the Aviatika class in the Zavodskoi district of Grozny on Monday. All the identification numbers on the plane had been filed off, so investigators will have to work to establish who operated it and to what purpose, an official in the provisional Interior Ministry press center in Mozdok told Interfax on Tuesday. //Interfax http://www.gazeta.ru/intnews.sht ml#1118

2000-03-22, Serge Pod: Helicopter Crash in Bashkiria Injures Two Two Ka-32 pilots were seriously injured in a helicopter crash on Tuesday afternoon, 12 km to the northwest of Kumertau (Bashkiria), the press-service of Emergency Ministry’s local department reported. The helicopter belonged to the local air force squad. The pilots were on aa training flight. The crash took place 500 meters away from the village of Konarevka. The crew of 2 (test pilot Kitzun and navigator Sungurov) was discovered by the rescuers several minutes later on the place of accident. The pilots were sent to the nearest hospital. The medics say their lives are no longer in danger, though they are still in grave condition.The helicopter was written off. An airforce spokesman said the both pilots reacted excellently, managing to steer the failing helicopter away from the populated area and land it soundly so that the fuel tanks did not explode. A special commission headed by the deputy chief engineer of Kumertau aircraft enterprise Vladimir Kechaev has launced…

2000-03-22, Serge Pod: US postpones test of National Missile Defense: officials WASHINGTON, March 21 (AFP) - 21:40 GMT - The Pentagon on Tuesday postponed the next test of the US National Missile Defense system (NMD) until late June, pushing back to at least late summer a presidential decision on whether to have the controversial system deployed by 2005. The delay will mean that the Pentagon will have less time to review data from all the NMD tests before making a recommendation on the whether the system is ready for deployment, Air Force Lieutenant General Ronald Kadish acknowledged. Moreover, only 85 percent of the data from the upcoming test will have been analyzed in time for the Pentagon readiness review, which is now scheduled to be completed by the end of July, he said. But Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, told a news conference here that "We're not taking this to the point where we're doing things irrationally and rushing things unnecessarily." He said the flight test — the third…

2000-03-22, Serge Pod: Pentagon to send drones to Kosovo WASHINGTON, March 21 (AFP) - 00:54 GMT - The Pentagon is sending unmanned surveillance planes to Kosovo along with troops to operate them, but has no other plans to augment its forces there, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said Tuesday. The Predator and Hunter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used before in Kosovo and Bosnia to give troops a bird's-eye view of what is happening on the ground. Bacon would not say how many troops would accompany the UAVs, which were last used in Kosovo late last year but were withdrawn when the winter set in. Asked if the United States was considering augmenting its 6,300 troops in Kosovo, he said, "Not at this time." However, some 1,100 US Marines were making their way Tuesday to Kosovo as part of a 2,000-troop exercise of the strategic reserve forces for Kosovo. The other troops are from Argentina, Netherlands, Poland and Romania. France, faced with unrest in Kosovska Mitrovica, has beefed up its forces in the northern sector with…

2000-03-21, Serge Pod: Polish Air Force and Air Defense Converts Into the Future By Ryszard Jaxa-Malachowski, AWN Central European Correspondent The air arm of the Polish armed forces is undergoing an intensive conversion to become compatible with NATO standards. The Polish Air Force headquarters has already been reorganized and the head of staff General Leszek Duleba has only a single deputy, unlike his predecessor who had four deputies and even more specialized duties. The structure of the air force has also been simplified. There are two Air Defence Corps with headquarters at Bydgoszcz and Wroclaw. Deblin Aviation Academy is a single entity and a limited number of units remain independents and are subordinated directly to Gen. Duleba. Those consist of four training centers, Central Commanding Station, two regiments specialized in radiosurveilance and electronic warfare and VIP transport regiment. All those units will witness limited changes as will Deblin Academy, however difficult job lies ahead for the AD Corpses. According…

2000-03-21, Serge Pod: Russian-Chinese Relations Warm Up The cordiality between Russia and China continues, with a further visit in March by Ilya Klebanov, Deputy Prime Minister responsible for defence and aerospace industries and Yury Koptev, Director General of the Russian Aerospace Agency. These latest discussions included cooperation on space exploration, including the possibility of the joint creation of orbit piloted stations, discussions that have led to reports in the Russian press of China buying the Mir space station. Koptev and the Head of the Chinese National Space Administration have agreed to set up a special commission to develop a cooperation programme covering navigation, piloted cosmonautics, space communication and research into outer space. China is reported to have expressed interest in the Russian GLONASS navigating system and further talks will shortly be held on this specific issue. In addition, the two delegations discussed the potential replacement of China's Il-86s with the Il-96. Russia is also hopeful…

2000-03-21, Serge Pod: UAE F-16 Order Launches New GE Engine Following a lengthy technical evaluation, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Force & Air Defense picked the GE F110 fighter engine to power its new fleet of 80 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 60 aircraft - and has launched a new derivative F110 engine. The engine contract to GE Aircraft Engines (GEAE) is valued at more than $400 million. UAE selected the F110-GE-132 engine, a higher-thrust derivative of GEAE's F110 fighter engine family, the most popular engine for the world's F-16C/D aircraft. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2002. Derived from the F110-GE-100 and F110-GE-129 engines, the F110-GE-132 can produce 32,500 pounds of thrust or operate at 29,000 pounds (current thrust rating for Block 50 F-16s) and increase engine life up to 50%. The -132 draws from GEAE's existing technology base, including: A long-chord, blisk fan derived from the F118 engine (B-2 bomber), a radial afterburner derived from the F120 engine (JSF) and F414 engine (F/A-18E/F), and a…

2000-03-21, Serge Pod: Gripen Team Makes Headway in Czech Republic By Ryszard Jaxa-Malachowski, AWN Central European Correspondent A team from BAe Systems and Saab signed the Memorandum of Understanding last Tuesday with the Czech Republic government which some say lays a foundation for a future fighter order. A joint commission is to be set up to coordinate potential offset and investments to be made in the Czech Republic. The documents were signed by Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finances Pavel Mertik. Also present were the Czech Prime Minister and British and Swedish ambassadors, governmental representatives as well top ranking persons from BAe Systems and SAAB. The level of participants clearly presents the importance of this event for the troubled Czech economy. Saab president and CEO Bengt Halse said the agreement opens new horizons for joint activities and initiates the process of creating new investments. The memorandum has been developed for last 12 months and is BAe/Saab's response to the local requirements…

2000-03-20, Serge Pod: Ukraine, Russia Spar Over Cause of Zenit Failure Officials with Ukrainian and Russian aerospace companies traded accusations regarding the cause of Sunday's failure of a Zenit launch vehicle used by Sea Launch. Reuters reported Thursday that officials from Ukrainian aerospace firm KB Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash, who built the lower two stages of the Zenit 3SL booster, said that none of their systems on the booster caused it to fly out of control and be destroyed several minutes after launch March 12. Yuzhnoye officials believe that a guidance computer on the Zenit built by the Russian firm Energia caused the booster's second stage to veer off course. Either aerodynamic stresses on the booster or an automated self-destruct system would then have destroyed the rocket. Energia officials, however, denied the Ukrainian accusations, saying it was too soon to pin the blame on the guidance computer or any other subsystem on the booster. "The Ukrainian reaction that the Russian computer is to blame for the failure of the…