Aerospace

The last nine months were earth-shattering for Alcoa.

The seventh and final year of NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation project is on target for a grand finale: the goal of simultaneous cuts in drag, weight, fuel burn, noise and emissions seems eminently doable moving forward.

As bypass ratios increase and engine cores get smaller, Pratt & Whitney comes up with a unique solution to the challenges of small scales inside future turbofans.

What could spur Alcoa to pony up maybe $5 billion in less than a year? Aerospace and defense market share

Test flights are getting underway of a Boeing 757 with an actively blown vertical tail and new wing-leading-edge sections, which could pave the way for the wider use of natural laminar and active flow control technology in future airliner designs.

Moth inspires agile thinking; aerospike rocket looks for liftoff; tethered UAVs for safer cities; Amazon a step closer to delivery drones and other unmanned news

Elytron Aircraft plans to begin flight tests this summer of a two-seat, proof-of-concept tiltwing aircraft designed to take off and land like a helicopter but operate from point to point at fixed-wing speeds.

Driving down the costs of electronically steered phased arrays opens up new commercial and military opportunities.

Snowstorm shuts down Washington but fails to halt Aviation Week’s 58th annual Laureate awards ceremony, which salutes aerospace sector’s high achievers.

Greg Morris recognized early in the game just how important additive manufacturing would become. His vision and drive helped spur GE Aviation on a mission that culminated in 3-D printing in its latest engines.

Two winners took home Aviation Week’s Innovation Laureate for 2015—Raytheon and Saab pursued different routes to achieve the same outcome—introducing gallium nitride power electronics to military radar and electronic-warfare systems.

Mix Formula One technology into an aviation turbo-diesel and you get a fuel-efficient, low-emission helicopter engine.

European safety agency proposes three-tier framework for regulation of civil unmanned aircraft operations based on the risk they pose.

Reasons for the surge in mergers and acquisitions vary with the motivations of the involved companises.

JAXA tries again with quiet-supersonic D-Send; Lockheed adds UAS information to FAA flight services; U.K. extends X-ray inspection to large composites; Russia’s air-cushion UAS; Kickstarter crowdfunding bid for collision-avoidance system.

There used to be stealth aircraft and non-stealth aircraft, but new detection technology is making that distinction more complicated.

Helicopter manufacturers may be closing in on a long-sought goal: eliminating rotor-blade vibration.

Dragonfly Pictures Inc. is developing the Pelican for the precision aerial-spraying role and, potentially, military supply operations.

Health and usage monitoring systems—a necessity for offshore operations—could soon appear on light helicopters, thanks to technology envisaged for wind turbines

Short-term thinking seems to have become the strategy of choice for many publicly traded companies.

Common modules with digital beam-forming will reduce development expense and timescale, increase capability and flexibility for AESA radars and jammers.

Under pressure from slower-than-expected F-35 fielding, USAF is embarking on a pricey upgrade to keep the F-15 relevant into the 2040s.

Solar-powered round-the-world attempt seeks to inspire enthusiasm for renewable energy and innovation in sustainable technology, but can it have any impact on aviation?

Truck-stopping laser; Lockheed backs Rocket Lab smallsat booster; quantum radar entangles microwaves and optics; CMCs feel the heat in GE engine tests; Kalashnikov buys into Russian UAV maker, and other unmanned news.

Enabling unmanned aircraft to ‘speak’ to ATC and land automatically in emergencies could help UAS fly safely in civil airspace.