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Daily News
by Gail Helmer
Days 1-6, June 18 - 24, 2001
Jane's Daily Paris Air Show News Briefs
Day 1Software problems delay British Army Apache training - 18/01/01
US-supplied software for the British Army's WAH-64 Apache attack helicopter full mission simulator has been found faulty preventing the planning programme to go ahead. [more...]
Sonic Cruiser details leak out - 18/06/01
Boeing is still remaining enigmatic about one of the most exciting air transport programmes ever planned - the Sonic Cruiser. But slowly, details are emerging about some of the ground-breaking technologies that will have to be developed if the aircraft is to make into the skies around 2006. [more...]
Baikal mock-up marks Russian progress - 18/06/01
The formidable sight of a full-scale mock-up of the Angara-A1-B launch vehicle's first-stage (named 'Baikal') - which greets all Paris Air Show visitors as they walk between Halls 1 and 2 - shows that Russian plans for a completely new launch vehicle family are proceeding. [more...]
Fourth 'Bronze Budgie' for Jane's' Nick Cook - 18/06/01
Nick Cook of Jane's Defence Weekly picked up his fourth 'Bronze Budgie' on 16 June when his article 'Warp Drive, When?' won the MTU Award for the Best Propulsion Submission at the 2001 Aviation Journalist of the Year Awards in Paris. [more...]
Day 2
Thales and Raytheon launch ‘first transatlantic balanced defence venture’ - 19/06/01
Global defence contractors Thales and Raytheon Systems have used the 2001 Paris Air Show to launch what Raytheon CEO Daniel Burnham described as "the first [true] transatlantic defence venture". [more...]
Typhoon whips up stealth money - 19/06/01
Eurofighter is confounding critics of the Typhoon swing-role combat jet by revealing a major investment in stealth technologies made by senior partner EADS (European Aeronautic, Defense and Space). [more...]
European industry ‘ready to help missile defence’ - 19/06/01
Europe has the expertise and the willingness to take a slice of the US Missile Defence action, according to a senior industry leader. [more...]
Israel to purchase additional F-16Is - 19/06/01
Israel has announced that it is to exercise an option to purchase additional F-16I multi-role fighter aircraft from Lockheed Martin, a company source told Jane's Defence Weekly at the Paris air Show on Tuesday. [more...]
UK Minister to sign A400M agreement - 19/06/01
UK defence minister Geoff Hoon is signing a multi-nation memorandum of understanding for the full-scale development of the A400M strategic transport aircraft at the Paris Air Show today (Tuesday). A total of 213 A400M are expected to be signed for, valued at US$ 30 billion. [more...]
Day 3
Only room for two shows, says PAS President - 20/06/01
There is ultimately only room for two major air shows in Europe, according to Monsieur Marchegay, President of the Paris Air Show (PAS).[more...]
Airbus scoops leasing order - 20/06/01
International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) has ordered 111 Airbus airliners, including five A380 freighters, in a deal worth $8.7 billion. This latest order follows an announcement earlier in the show that lessor Intrepid Aviation Partners would buy 25 reconfigured A300 and A310 freighters from Airbus. [more...]
C-27J receives civil aviation certification - 20/06/01
The C-27J Spartan military cargo aircraft, built jointly by Alenia Aerospazio's Aeronautics division and Lockheed Martin, received its civil aviation certificate today (20 June). [more...]
Typhoon DASS is go - 20/06/01
BAE SYSTEMS and its partners in the EuroDASS (Elettronica and Indra) have been awarded the production contract for the first batch of Defensive Aids Sub Systems (DASS) for the Eurofighter Typhoon. [more...]
One billion US travellers by 2010 - 20/06/01
US airlines will carry over one billion passengers a year by 2010, according to US transportation secretary Norman Mineta, speaking at the show on Tuesday. [more...]
Day 4
Eurocopter Romania could hit ground running with UAE Puma deal - 22/06/01
Eurocopter has formed a new joint venture company with Romania's IAR Brasov, creating Eurocopter Romania SA. The first contract for the company is likely to be the sale of 10 new-build AS 330 Pumas to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) plus the upgrade of the UAE's existing fleet of 15 Pumas to the same standard. [more...]
A 109 helicopters for Sweden - 21/06/01
Agusta SpA, an Agusta Westland company, signed a contract with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) on 20 June 2001 to supply 20 Agusta A 109M military helicopters. The contract is worth over US$110.5 million and initial deliveries are due for next September. [more...]
Airbus moves forward with A400M contract - 21/06/01
Airbus Military, which announced the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the A400M military airlifter in Paris this week, has reported that a full contract will be signed later this year, covering the development and support of 212 aircraft. [more...]
Three nations sign for Meteor missile - 21/06/01
Europe’s new beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, the Meteor, took a step closer to operational service on Tuesday (19 June) with the signing of a memorandum of understanding for its development. [more...]
Italy close to tanker buy - 21/06/01
Italy will select a new air-to-air refuelling tanker aircraft in the “coming months”, according to Admiral Giampaola di Paola, the national armaments director. “It will be a purchase and not a public finance programme,” he said, referring to the UK’s Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft programme.
Danish Lynx Mk90B is back - 21/06/01
Denmark’s naval aviation is showing off the Lynx Mk90B after re-build and overhaul by AgustaWestland at Yeovil and by the Danish Aerospace group. The helicopter crashed some years ago in Poland but has been re-manufactured as new, with new main rotor blades, reverse direction tail rotor and increased fuel capacity.
A400M may have left Dutch behind - 21/06/01
Dutch air force planners may have missed the boat with Airbus A400M, according to EADS’s military transport aircraft director, Alberto Fernandez. “The Dutch have not officially expressed an interest, so it is unlikely that they will have a place at the industrial table,” he said. The Royal Netherlands Air Force is looking at paying for up to three German Luftwaffe airframes, however, and having exclusive call on them.
Day 5
Preview of Paris coverage from Jane's International Defense Review (IDR) - 23/06/01
A preview of articles sourced at the Paris Air Show and soon to be detailed in full in upcoming editions of Jane's International Defense Review (IDR). [more...]
Egypt orders sixth E-2C Hawkeye - 23/06/01
Northrop Grumman has signed a foreign military sales (FMS) agreement to deliver an E-2C Hawkeye 2000 export configuration aircraft to Egypt. The contract adds the modification and upgrade of a sixth Egyptian E-2C, a former US Navy (USN) E-2C airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, to a programme awarded previously and brings the value of work to be done to US$163 million. [more...]
Global Hawk prepares for LRIP - 23/06/01
A US$20.5 million US Air Force contract for low-rate initial production (LRIP) of Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been received by Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems Sector (ISS). [more...]
Elbit to supply LIZARDs to Italy - 23/06/01
The Italian Air Force has awarded Elbit Systems a US$18 million contract to supply LIZARD laser-guided bombs for its Alenia/Embraer AMX aircraft. Delivery will be over a three-year period. [more...]
Pampa revival - 23/06/01
The Argentine Air Force is to acquire an improved version of the IA-63 Pampa jet trainer aircraft, re-designated AT-63, as part of a modernisation programme being conducted by Lockheed Martin Aircraft Argentina (LMAA). Elbit Systems of Israel is providing the avionics system. [more...]
Prevention is better than cure - 23/06/01
Among the many smaller items of equipment on display at Le Bourget were many vital gadgets intended to aid the aviator. One such item could be found in the Israeli pavilion, displayed by RSL Electronics: a Total Health and Usage Management System (THUMS) for use on fighter engines and helicopters. [more...]
Day 6
Paris: the week in review - 24/06/01
This year’s Paris Air Show will not go down in the long and distinguished history of the event as a vintage show, but it will be long remembered for the sight of the world’s largest flying aeroplane, Ukraine’s Antonov An-225; for the transPacific record-breaking US long-range unmanned aerial vehicle, the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk; for stunning flying by Italian pilots of the Eurofighter Typhoon; and for the continuing war of words between Airbus and Boeing. [more...]
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