Aerospace

Europe’s aviation leaders will adapt the region’s research agenda to address the rapid emergence of unmanned aircraft, electric propulsion, cybersecurity and other technologies.

The best performers in aerospace are midsize companies organized as horizontal portfolios of multiple operational entities that extol the virtues of small size, loose integration and lean management.

Turbofan surprises testers and survives first controlled on-wing test of volcanic ash ingestion, providing data on what happens inside a jet engine flying though an ash cloud.

News from the Aerodays2015 research conference in London Oct. 20-23: MTU runs better GTF; Airbus rethinks cabins; UTRC advances model-based engineering; NASA tests low-noise flaps, gear.

Europeans love diesel power; now they are looking to see if helicopters can run off it, too.

Creating a testbed to prove a wing with drag-reducing natural laminar flow can be produced industrially and operated routinely has taken longer than Airbus and its European partners expected.

NASA high ice water content research flights aim to give pilots better awareness and warning of the poorly understood core engine icing phenomenon.

Researchers from NASA take special precautions to fly through high ice water conditions without endangering test aircraft or crews.

Today’s researchers pick up the long forgotten trail of early ice testers who stumbled on high water ice content mystery in 1950s.

The rise of the airliner from humble origins to pivotal economic engine.

Defense Department signals it is weighing how to open up the aerospace sector to encourage broader competition from lower-level players.

Attracting and keeping passengers have been motivating factors in the evolution of commercial aircraft design.

How advances in technology drove the design of better, faster and safer aircraft.

Lockheed Martin starts building a 60-kW fiber-laser weapon for the U.S. Army, considers growth to 120 kW and sets its sights on Air Force and Navy high-energy laser opportunities.

The wave of counter-UAS systems hitting the market is a visible sign of growing concerns over the threat that consumer drones could become airborne IEDs.

GE Aviation creates digital twins—data models that track specific parts by engine serial number—to enable predictive engine maintenance that eliminates unplanned aircraft down-time.

Industry is spending heavily in demonstrating technology for the U.S. Army’s next rotorcraft, but doesn’t want to wait to the 2030s to see a return on its investment.

With a forward-looking pilotage system able to see through rotor-blown dust, sand and snow as the first step, the U.S. Army moves toward equipping its rotorcraft with a 360-deg. sensor capability to operate in all environments.

European helicopter and engine OEMs look for fuel economies in hybrid power and single-engine operation.

DLR tackles electric air taxis; Lockheed/Darpa advance laser turret designs; how alternative fuels affect contrail properties; solutions for countering UAS; perfecting UAVs for building searches; unmanned aircraft briefs

As Sikorsky looks forward to the pending merger with Lockheed Martin, two advanced rotorcraft programs are progressing at pace.

British government sees unmanned aerial systems as a tool for streamlining government, accelerating economic growth.

There are three alternatives for the world’s third-largest civil aircraft manufacturer to survive: sell assets, shut down the C Series or accept government intervention.

Darpa’s vanishing aerial-delivery platform; FAA to test UAV detection system; simulator meets aircraft in fused reality; space-based surveillance will save fuel on oceanic flights; more university research news.

The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin are starting tests of an automatic ground collision avoidance system designed to prevent both air and ground collisions.