 |  |  |  |  |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Visit our directory of manufacturers, suppliers and service providers
Search through years of
AIN past issues
Search through the latest
events and conferences
RSS Feed
Paris Air Show Report
July 01, 2009
Event boosts the industry’s stock, but hard times linger
moreUnexpected Anomalies Put Future GPS Under Stress
June 25, 2009
One key benefit of the future GPS III satellites that the DOD plans to launch in 2014 is that they will transmit a second civil aviation signal, called L-5, that new receivers will compare with today’s L-1 civil signals to eliminate ionospheric interference, the last major cause of GPS errors. Unfortunately, while a pre-production L-5 test package launched...
moreEADS UCAV Development Continues in Secret
June 19, 2009
EADS hopes to persuade France, Germany and Spain to launch development of its Advanced UAV, now named Talarion, a medium/high-altitude surveillance drone. But evidence of any progress by EADS in the Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) sector was entirely missing at this month’s Paris Air Show. Indeed, at a media briefing there, Stefan Zoller, CEO of EADS...
moreKC-45 Conundrum for Airbus
June 19, 2009
Airbus and Northrop Grumman are reluctant to discuss the status of the two KC-45s (A330s) built for the KC-X USAF tanker competition in advance of the award of the contract to Northrop Grumman by the Pentagon last year. Northrop Grumman offered the aircraft as proof of its serious intent in pursuing the requirement. The first KC-45 was flown to Dresden for...
moreUSAF KC-135s To Test Northrop Grumman Missile Protection
June 19, 2009
Northrop Grumman has now equipped more than 400 aircraft of 42 types with its AAQ-24(V) Nemesis directed infrared countermeasures system, which is designed to protect aircraft against shoulder-launched missiles, or Manpads. The original plasma lamp-based turret gave way to the eye-safe Viper laser from 2002, and the system continues to be in great demand....
moreElbit and General Dynamics Offer Hermes 90 UAV
June 19, 2009
Israel’s Elbit showed the latest member of its UAV family for the first time at the Paris Air Show in June. The Hermes 90 has an 85-kilogram mtow, of which 25 kilograms can be sensor payload. It can be operated by a crew of two, who can turn it round between missions in about 15 minutes. Endurance is over 18 hours at an altitude of 15,000 feet. Its...
moreUAE Rafale Order on Final
June 19, 2009
Technical negotiations with the United Arab Emirates for what will be the first export sale of the Dassault Aviation Rafale combat jet, are almost complete. But commercial and government talks continue, so a formal announcement is probably still some months away. Deliveries are unlikely before 2013. At the Paris Air Show, Dassault displayed two scale models...
morePartners brace to bite bullet on A400M costs
June 18, 2009
Airbus has presented “a realistic development and production schedule” to the A400M partner nations, CEO Tom Enders said here in Paris on Tuesday. Ahead of next week’s meeting in Seville with the defense ministers, Airbus won’t answer detailed questions about the plan in public. But they seem to have convinced one customer already: French defense minister...
moreTP400 nears Fadec trials, certification
June 18, 2009
Engine consortium Europrop International (EPI) is now just 300 test hours away from certification of its 11,000-shp TP400 turboprop for the Airbus A400M military transport. According to technical director Karsten Muehlenfeld, the final software of the full authority digital engine control (Fadec) is to be delivered to the Toulouse iron bird late this month,...
moreHermes 90 targets U.S. forces
June 18, 2009
Hermes 90, the latest member of Elbit’s UAV family, is on show here at Paris for the first time. Its appearance comes shortly after the creation of a joint venture between the Israeli company and General Dynamics to promote the sale of unmanned air systems into the U.S., which Elbit now considers a “home” market. Based at Fort Mill, South Carolina, UAS...
moreTanker protagonists square off for round three of U.S. bid
June 18, 2009
Battle lines were drawn here this week for round three of the Great Tanker War. Conflict is likely to break out next month, when the Pentagon is expected to issue a new draft request for proposals (RFP) for the KC-X program. Boeing said that it may now offer a tanker version of the 777. EADS and Northrop Grumman officials said that their KC-45 proposal...
moreIAI tanker program advances
June 18, 2009
While Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS prepare to lock horns again for the U.S. tanker replacement program, one might be forgiven for thinking that there were only two sources for modern jet tankers. IAI’s Bedek Aviation Group would certainly disagree.
Bedek is a leading MRO and conversion house for a range of Boeing types (737-300/400, 767-200/300,...
moreDassault looms large over Thales
June 18, 2009
Thales, Europe’s third largest civil and defense aerospace group, makes its first appearance at Le Bourget since it acquired a new shareholder and executive board last month. The move, in which Dassault Aviation becomes a major active player following the ouster of long-time CEO Denis Ranque after a three-way struggle between the Thales board of directors,...
moreSaudi Arabia Joins the Sniper Family
June 18, 2009
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control has announced that it is to supply the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod to the Royal Saudi Air Force. The Snipers will replace the LANTIRN system used by the RSAF’s F-15S strike aircraft. The deal represents the first phase of a $100 million multi-year sensor modernization program, conducted through Foreign Military...
more