April 29, 1996

April 29, 1996

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HEADLINE NEWS

DARKSTAR DESTROYED ON SECOND FLIGHT

By MICHAEL A. DORNHEIM

HEADLINE NEWS

GLOBAL HAWK UAV MAY FLY EARLY

By DAVID A. FULGHUM

HEADLINE NEWS

F11O-129 COMPLETES F-15 FLIGHT TESTS

By STANLEY W. KANDEBO

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2425
HEADLINE NEWS

DARKSTAR DESTROYED ON SECOND FLIGHT

Good telemetry in dramatic crash gives hope that cause will be quickly found—the problem is devising fixes and validating them before flying No. 2 aircraft

By MICHAEL A. DORNHEIM

2425
HEADLINE NEWS

GLOBAL HAWK UAV MAY FLY EARLY

WASHINGTON Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical officials have instructed the team building the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle to prepare for first flight two weeks earlier than originally planned. First flight is officially slated for Dec. 17, the anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first heavier-than-air flight.

By DAVID A. FULGHUM

2627
HEADLINE NEWS

F11O-129 COMPLETES F-15 FLIGHT TESTS

NEW YORK General Electric has completed tests of its F110-129 powerplant, which should lead to U.S. Air Force qualification of the engine for the F-l5 early next year. The Fl10/F-15E flight test program was completed on Apr. 23 after concluding 19 flights with the engine that totaled 44.6 flight hours.

By STANLEY W. KANDEBO

2627
HEADLINE NEWS

PENTAGON-CONGRESS SPAT PUTS SR-71 IN LIMBO

LOS ANGELES Prospects for the Air Force/Lockheed SR-71 are expected to remain cloudy until factions in Washington work out their differences on the use of this aircraft. When Congress gave funds for the reactivation of two SR-71s in 1995, the Air Force reluctantly complied.

By MICHAEL A. DORNHEIM

2627
HEADLINE NEWS

F-l5 ACTIVE TESTS SUPERSONIC YAW VECTORING

EDWARDS AFB, CALIF. The fifth flight of the F-l5 ACTIVE (Advanced Controls Technology for Integrated Vehicles) aircraft included the first yaw vectoring of axisymmetric nozzles on a U.S. fighter flying at supersonic speed, according to program officials.

By BRUCE A. SMITH

2627
HEADLINE NEWS

ADVANCED MB-339CD MAKES FIRST FLIGHT

LONDON_ The newest version of Aermacchi's MB-339 advanced jet trainer made its first flight last week. The CD model, rolled out at Aermacchi's facilities at Venegano, Italy, earlier this month, is being built for the Italian air force which has ordered 15.
2829
HEADLINE NEWS

DOD TITAN 4 LAUNCHED

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR STATION A U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin Titan 4 launched a classified Defense Dept, payload to what appeared to be geosynchronous orbit from here Apr. 24. The Titan and its Centaur upper stage, designated vehicle K-l6, lifted off Pad 41 at 7:37:01 p.m. EDT (2337:01 GMT) Apr. 24 and about 6 sec. later began a roll to what USAF officials said was a flight azimuth of 100.4.
2829
HEADLINE NEWS

UPRATED EJ2000 ENGINES READIED FOR FLIGHT

LONDON_ Aircraft DA3 in the Eurofighter 2000 flight test program is being fitted with 01C standard Eurojet EJ2000 engines with a modified upflow fan and compressor, following the completion of flight tests with Ol A standard engines. DA3 is the first aircraft to be fitted with the EJ2000 engines, which have accumulated 120 hrs. during 40 flights in phase 1 testing at Alenia's Caselle flight test center in Turin, Italy.
2829
HEADLINE NEWS

MIR ASSEMBLY NEARS FINALE

PARIS After 10 years of work in Earth orbit, Russia late last week was completing the assembly of Mir, the first permanently manned space station. The long process was nearing conclusion with the addition of the Priroda module carrying advanced Earth survey equipment and nearly a ton of NASA hardware for joint U.S./Russian operations.

By CRAIG COVAULT

2829
HEADLINE NEWS

ARIANE LAUNCHES CANADIAN MSAT-1

PARIS Canada's large new MSat-1 spacecraft for mobile communications is en route to its geosynchronous orbit station over the Pacific following launch Apr. 20 on an Ariane 42P booster. MSat-1 was developed for TMI Communications, Ottawa, by Spar Aerospace Ltd. in connection with Hughes Space and Communications.

By CRAIG COVAULT

April 221996 May 61996