Flight Paths Forward Roundup: Top 10 Articles

Leaps in computing power, sensors and weapons will benefit the F-35 in the next eight years—if Lockheed can keep modernization on track.

A decade may seem too short for such an evolution in one program, but it is possible. Ten years ago, the F-35 was still in crisis mode: With the flight-test fleet grounded for most of 2009, the supply chain was reeling. Ashton Carter, who was then the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, later acknowledged that proposals to cancel the program had been briefly considered during that period.

Read the full article to see the vision for the Lockheed Martin F-35 program in 10 years.

Guillaume Faury became CEO of Airbus Group in April 2019 after just over a year as president of the company’s commercial aircraft business. With only one year in the job behind him, the 52-year-old has to steer Airbus through the worst crisis commercial aviation has ever faced, cutting costs where possible while protecting substance where needed. Faury met with Aviation Week Executive Editor for Commercial Aviation Jens Flottau at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse. With air travel all but impossible throughout the spring, it was their first in-person meeting in several months.

• Faury expects suppressed narrowbody production for two years
• Long-haul aircraft demand slump to last much longer
• European governments’ hydrogen research funding supports next-generation aircraft technology
• Carbon-neutral narrowbody could enter service in 2035

Read the full article.

When he was United Technologies Corp. chairman and CEO, Greg Hayes took a lot of heat for merging his company with Raytheon to create aerospace powerhouse Raytheon Technologies. But the critics have been silenced as defense has cushioned the company from the battering the commercial downturn has inflicted on its Collins Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney operations. Hayes spoke via videoconference with AW&ST Editor-in-Chief Joe Anselmo and Senior Business Editor Michael Bruno.

• Raytheon chief looks ahead
• Commercial aviation recovery will take years
• Investing in hypersonics
• Game-changing technologies for a next-generation narrowbody

 Read the full article. 

Flight Paths Forward: Future of Boeing

A year may seem like a long time in politics, but for Boeing, two years in aerospace must be an eternity as it begins the slow recovery from the unparalleled series of setbacks, accidents and downturns that have struck it since 2018.

• Boeing faces multifaceted drama
• Likely 737 MAX comeback coincides with crisis peak
• No new program launch expected for five years or more
• High debt to burden company recovery

Read the full article.

Flight Paths Forward: Future of the Commercial Aerospace Supply Chain 

Suppliers across the western aerospace and defense industrial base faced an existential crisis entering the second half of 2020.

Commercial air travel, the lifeblood of industry, took a body blow in the first half of the year with the one-two punch of the Boeing 737 MAX crisis and then the outbreak of COVID-19. Passenger air traffic could end 2020 at about 55% of 2019’s total level, according to financial analysts, and in 2021, the question will be whether a significant uptick can occur without a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

• Pandemic starts two years of declining industrial capacity
• The supplier base entered COVID-19 outbreak suffering hiccups but expecting historic growth

Read the full article.

It may not seem like it, but the last 12 months have been fairly busy when it comes to new civil aircraft—and some not so new—entering flight testing. Among the more than dozen types that have taken to the skies are a handful of that new breed—electric-powered aircraft.

See the full gallery of civil aircraft you have not seen at an airshow —yet.

As an UltraFan demonstrator is prepared for 2021 tests, chief engineer Andy Geer tells Aviation Week editors about Rolls-Royce’s faith in a market recovery—and why UltraFan will be an engine for all seasons.

Listen to the full podcast. 

More than 7,000 Pratt & Whitney engines are in service in military aircraft worldwide, and the company is adding about 150 F135 and dozens of F100 engines to that total every year. As new opportunities for fighter engine upgrades and Boeing B-52 engine replacements come up for grabs, Aviation Week Editors Steve Trimble and Guy Norris talked with Pratt Military Engines President Matthew Bromberg about the company’s priorities for seeking growth amid a disruptive health pandemic.

• Company on track to qualify 188 parts to replace Turkish suppliers on the F-35
• Why the PW800 is the “best damn engine” for the B-52

Read the full article. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing airline fleet planning fundamentally. Some older models such as the Airbus A340 or the Boeing 747 are being retired as passenger aircraft, yet others will survive and be used to rebuild air travel once demand comes back. See the full overview of likely candidates.