Aerospace

Growing experience in delivering goods by drone may be coming to the U.S. as part of an FAA pilot program to accelerate commercial use of unmanned aircraft.

China seeks military base in South Pacific, U.S. plays catchup on AI, the Coast Guard’s new UAS, and F-35 flies to South America.

Commercial off-the-shelf drones are already challenging the traditional military balance betwen aggressor and defender.

The emergence of Boeing and Rolls-Royce as new backers represents a significant endorsement for Reaction, which is designing and testing an air-breathing, combined-cycle rocket engine concept dubbed Sabre.

New main rotor blade tips and an improved gearbox are in development for Sikorsky’s UH-60 Black Hawk.

Zipline speeds blood delivery, RemoveDebris cleans up space, mobile robot machines aerostructures, ATARI lands unmanned aircraft, and “Dronionics” market emerges.

AHM once again is being touted as the next major MRO business, but it will not be a game-changing revenue opportunity in aviation.

NASA’s aeronautics leadership has committed the agency to return to flight research. And that means building and flying X-planes.

Safran’s success in ground-testing a counter-rotating open rotor engine is not enough for Airbus, which sees the concept as one option among others.

Uniquely positioned after completing a preliminary design for NASA, Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works was the only bidder to build the low-boom flight demonstrator, but NASA praises the quality of its bid.

Aerostructures will decide the winners and losers in the next phase of the commercial aerospace industry evolution.

Industrial giant Siemens is aiming for a leading position as a supplier of electric propulsion systems to aircraft OEMs.

Protecting against lightning; connecting IoT via space; supercapacitors for energy storage; Flexible ultrasonic sensor; drone concerns in New Zealand.

World View’s multimonth stratospheric balloon could soon be carrying sensors for hunting rogue missiles rather than crispy chicken sandwiches.

Testing of swarm tactics enabling drones to support ground forces in complex urban environments is to begin this year.

Honeywell Aerospace uses a small drone to advance its concept of using an FMS from the ground to support unmanned aircraft in flight.

A small aerospace supplier says product life-cycle management software saves time, money and reduces the chances of human error.

Leading edge slats, clamshell aft cargo door with integrated elevon and other changes revealed as Boeing hones airlifter and X-plane blended-wing concepts.

IAI thinks about electric aircraft, fuel cells for endurance, Aeromobil’s fly/drive eVTOL, drones and robot earthmovers, and wave to the Amazon drone.

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works unveiled a never-before-seen tailless UAV dubbed the X-44A at the Los Angeles County Air Show in California on March 24.

Utility of basic position reporting, bandwidth requirements and the need to coordinate distress responses with search-and-rescue organizations are some issues.

Yates Electrospace is still pursuing ever-higher electric-aircraft speeds, but its first product is a disposable cargo glider.

U.S. Marines, with the Army, are testing responsive resupply of troops in the field using unmanned aircraft of different sizes and capabilities.

With commercial aircraft programs at record production rates, aerostructures OEMs are looking for technologies to produce carbon-fiber components faster.

l“Trade wars are good and easy to win.” Thus tweeted President Donald Trump in early March. But for the jetliner industry, trade wars are a potentially toxic exogenous shock. Jetliners are uniquely vulnerable to retaliation, particularly from China.