Australian Aviation

Hornet Production Ahead of Schedule As Programme Builds Momentum After 3½years in the job, Air Commodore Hans Roser has handed over to Group Captain Bruce Searle the direct task of overseeing the management of Australia’s most expensive Defence equipment purchase – the order of 75 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets which started coming into RAAF service

Continued Growth in Domestic Airline Activity in September Quarter 1985: Domestic airline activity continued to grow strongly in the September quarter, according to provisional statistics released by the Department of Aviation. A rise in the two major indicators – passenger-kilometres and total tonne-kilometres- brought activity for the twelve months to September to a record level.

General Dynamics Buys Cessna: General Dynamics completed its acquisition of Cessna, the world’s largest GA manufacturer, in November for a reported $US660m. Cessna was the last of the big three to be taken over. Lear Siegler took over Piper in 1982 while Raytheon has been a parent to Beech for several years now. The move

Are the Navy Sea Kings Destined for the Mine Countermeasures Role? Suggestions that the existing RAN Westland Sea King ASW helicopters might be employed in the mine countermeasures role gained strength as we closed for press. This follows on the granting of funds to further develop a radically different concept for minesweeping inshore waters that

Hawker de Havilland Win Large Boeing Offset Contract: Hawker de Havilland have won a major risk-sharing contract with Boeing to produce 26 separate components for the wing leading edge structure for the 747. Value of the contract, which will cover 300 chipsets, is $A130m and work should span the next ten years at least. Hawker

Are Overseas Aerospace Companies Taking Their Offset Commitments Seriously? For a decade and a half now the Australian Government has overseen the management of an offset policy to help promote our local industry and provide a greater level of defence self reliance by way of in-house repair and support capability. The program has been particularly