Bcomp, a Swiss startup producing composites using natural fibers, has received an investment from Airbus Ventures as part of a CHF34 million ($35 million) Series B financing round led by BMW i Ventures.
A hybrid-electric power system designed for applications ranging from drones to uncrewed cargo aircraft and passenger air taxis has been unveiled by startup LaunchPoint Electric Propulsion Solutions.
With testing of a subscale uncrewed demonstrator underway in waters off Tampa, Florida, Regent has solidified its maritime certification path with confirmations from U.S. and European aviation regulators that its planned wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) regional transports are not considered aircraft.
Austrian startup CycloTech and Japanese package carrier Yamato have completed a study into the feasibility of developing an uncrewed cargo aircraft using thrust-vectoring cyclorotor propulsion to operate in confined urban areas, even in high winds.
German energy company EnBW and aerospace research agency DLR have launched a three-year project to explore the use of cargo and passenger drones to support the maintenance of offshore wind farms.
Germany’s Lilium has taken another step in the type certification process for its electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxi, submitting its means of compliance to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
Benefiting perhaps from steadily improving relations between China and Indonesia, EHang has secured its largest commitment to date from an Asian customer with preorders for 100 EH216 autonomous air taxis from Prestige Aviation, an Indonesian aircraft sales and management company.
Parker Hannifin has committed to divest its aircraft wheels and brakes business to secure European Commission approvals for its acquisition of UK-based aerospace supplier Meggitt.
At first, advanced air mobility flights will be piloted. But the industry widely agrees its aircraft must become autonomous at some point if operations are to scale up to hoped-for high volumes. Rather than if, the debate centers largely on when.
The Defense Innovation Unit has released a request for information seeking commercial on-orbit satellite refueling and bulk fuel depot ideas as part of its “RAPIDS Refueling and Fuel Depot” project.
After slow incremental improvements in the performance of advanced air mobility publicly held stocks for the past three weeks, the five-day period ending April 11 brought the nascent industry back to the ground.
Tis the season for spring cleaning, and in midtier commercial manufacturing that increasingly means divesting assets to either become more focused on aerospace or at least certain parts of it.
German startup Theion is targeting electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft as an early market for solid-state, lithium-sulfur batteries that promise three times the energy density of conventional lithium-ion cells.
