Emerging Technologies

Wind tunnel tests intended to show that an unusual airfoil design could allow drag-reducing laminar flow to be passively maintained over a large percentage of a wings.

UK Royal Air Force wants to be net zero by 2040; its counterparts are watching closely.

Risk reduction wind-tunnel buffet onset tests at NASA take Boeing’s transonic truss-braced wing concept to the edge of the envelope.

Embraer’s autonomy project; Unmanned cargo handling; Hydrogen pioneers partner; Denmark boosts e-fuels; and Hydrogen valley airport.

The reignited Airbus-Dassault dispute delays French-German-Spanish future combat air system project.

Long in the making, space-based optical communications is finally joining the mainstream.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

Delta is the first U.S. airline to partner with the European airframer in its Airbus “ZEROe” aircraft development program, which was unveiled two years ago with a potential service entry date by 2035.

Attendees from 72 nations and 590 exhibitors at HAI’s Heli-Expo boost hopes of a return to pre-COVID civil helicopter industry growth.

Starlink not built for battlefield, so Elon Musk makes on-the-fly updates to keep Ukrainians online.

Cyberactivity targeting the aerospace and defense industry is intense, and the ecosystem that must be protected is more complex than ever.

Universal Hydrogen (UH2) and fuel-cell powertrain developer H3 Dynamics have partnered to develop zero-emission propulsion systems for unmanned aircraft, air taxis and new-design regional aircraft.

If aviation is to be more accessible and ubiquitous, aircraft will have become quieter.

Undefined safety and noise regulations, cloud future vertiport and eVTOL operations.

This is the year is when the bevy of SPACs that formed in 2020 faces a deal-or-no-deal moment.

Optical communications technology is gaining ground in space.

Whisper’s quiet drone; Avoiding satellite collision; Refueling in space; Hypersonic funding boost; and Rapid hydrogen refueling.

With commercial LEO satellite constellations growing tenfold and governments eager to tap new-space, lasers comms’ have arrived.

The zero-emission propulsion startup Hydrogen is to locate manufacturing and distribution of its modular hydrogen capsules and assembly of regional-aircraft powertrain retrofit kits at the New Mexico facility.

European defense technology firm MARSS develops an aerial ram to hard-kill drone swarms.

U.S. hypersonic aircraft startup Hermeus has closed a $100 million Series B fundraising round, providing the funding to fly its first three Quarterhorse flight-test vehicles and advance design of its planned Darkhorse production aircraft.

Whisper Aero plans to test its quiet propulsor technology on a 55-lb. intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance demonstrator drone as part of two Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer contracts.

SAF from sunlight; Rotating detonation engine; Composite cryogenic tank; Turbine weight saving; Dutch electric flight.

Production of SAF from many sources other than cooking oil is coming online.

Boeing has confirmed that recent composite cryogenic tank tests that pave the way for future liquid-hydrogen-fueled aircraft used a reusable tank shell originally built as flight hardware for DARPA’s former Experimental Spaceplane Program.