A&D companies and investors need to understand each other better

Not so fast, says Bombardier aircraft chief

The idea of recycling regional-jet winglets into bookshelves may raise a skeptical eyebrow, but manufacturers are talking seriously about how to manage the end-of-life for their aircraft and engines—however distant that may seem today.

While there is plenty to debate about where U.S. defense budgets could settle in 2014-15, there is no debate about the Pentagon's desire to continue to compete with cutting-edge technology. It expects defense advantages to be sustained through investment in new weapons and support systems that provide a generational lead over those fielded by adversaries.

The Big Three carriers' vast expansion plans and their implications

Drag-reduction technology that has been under research for decades is moving toward reality as commercial aircraft developers search for ever-higher fuel efficiency. Aircraft vertical tails are the first target because of the payoff if their size and drag can be reduced, but the techniques being developed could find their way onto other aircraft surfaces.

How Airbus and Boeing are boosting profit margins

It’s not every day you wake up to the news that Lockheed Martin confirmed it has been secretly working on a successor to its famous hypersonic spyplane, the SR-71 Blackbird. That’s what happened on Friday, when Aviation Week exclusively told the world about a propulsion breakthrough that would allow a new aircraft, the SR-72, to fly at six times the speed of sound, twice that of its successor.