Word: interceptor
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...successor to the U2, the slow-speed (500 m.p.h.) reconnaissance plane that flew into so much trouble over Russia. But last week the A11 was publicly shown and flown. And the experts quickly reconsidered their judgment. From spearlike nose to flaring, double-delta wing, the A11 is all interceptor, all meanness and muscle...
...maiden public flight the A11 clearly demonstrated the agility and speed that will be the hallmark of to morrow's interceptor. But even more to the point, the A-11's role as a fighter plane was obvious to those who inspected it on the ground. There were bomb-bay doors in the craft's belly that hid a covey of four-vaned air-to-air AIM (Air Intercept Missile) missiles...
...have their own major armaments industries. Britain does a good business in selling arms on the Continent and around the world. From 1960 to 1963, the French did well in foreign sales, thanks largely to the popularity of their light tanks and the Mystère II interceptor jet. West Germany still relies heavily on arms purchases from the U.S., but its own defense industry, just emerging from a postwar eclipse, is beginning to look for more export markets...
Once a leading and lucrative aircraft company, Republic turned out the P47 Thunderbolt in World War II, the F-84 Thunderjet for Korea and lately the F-105 interceptor-bomber. But the F-105 contract ends this year, and Republic has been groundspeed slow in diversifying into other defense and space areas. Its earnings last year were $3,600,000 on sales of $362 million; this year sales will be below $300 million-and losses are certain. "The first job," says Uhl, 46, "will be to cut Republic down to size." He intends to reduce personnel and plant to that...
...Many wrote Lockheed off after this debacle, but the company had some ideas of its own. In an industry made cautious by military cutbacks, huge development costs and quick obsolescence, it has moved ahead with such exotic projects as the U2, the 2,000-m.p.h. A11 interceptor, and the still-secret RS-71 world-spanning reconnaissance plane. Lockheed has not only earned a reputation as the most imaginative of the aerospace firms, but has translated its flights of fancy into highly successful products. Result: it has surged to the top of the aerospace industry, with sales of $1.93 billion...