The penalty that everyone said was too painful to occur is now happening, with Congress's failure to pass a deal to prevent nearly $1 trillion in government spending cuts over a decade. Now the question is how long the pain will last.

More than two decades have passed since the last commercial helicopter was built in the U.K., but civil rotorcraft production could be on the verge of a comeback. While the last flirtations with the commercial sector—in the 1980s by what was then Westland were not especially successful—AgustaWestland, the helicopter manufacturing arm of Italy's Finmeccanica, believes it is time for its Yeovil-based U.K. subsidiary to reembrace the commercial world.

Over the years, France was—and remains, to some extent— an aerospace-proud nation. In the last several decades, it was often the vanguard for innovations. This forward-thinking momentum began more than 100 years ago when the great minds of the day gave a warm welcome to the Wright brothers after the two inventors failed to garner the support they needed in the U.S. In France, they were accorded respect, accolades and help in their efforts to make controlled flight a reality, including during their celebrated stay in Rheims, in 1909.

Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi has started flight-testing the long-range version of its Superjet 100. But if the SSJ program is to become a success, the technical flaws that affect the baseline version must be conquered.

For the first time, a Boeing union has endorsed the company's plan to back away from guaranteed pensions but a minority group said it would rather strike instead, so the airplane maker has more uncertainty on its agenda.

Now entering the final stages of designing its Model 525 Relentless medium twin, Bell Helicopter is taking lessons not only from its own past, but from another major manufacturer. Build will start in the second quarter, aiming for a first flight in 2014.

Grows faster than rivals, but struggles to build international hub

We fly the latest update of the popular intermediate-size helo.