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Magazine Issue

Aviation Week & Space Technology, October 3, 2016

VOL. 178 NO. 40 October 03, 2016

Space

article

SpaceX’s Ambitious Plan Does Not Stop At Mars

Sep 30, 2016
Elon Musk outlines plan to build a transportation system to create a self-sustaining human “civilization” on Mars and make mankind a “multiplanet species.”

Defense

article

Affordability Trumps Performance In Air Force Trainer Race

Sep 30, 2016
Air Education and Training Command chief Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson talks with Aviation Week about the Air Force’s perspective on the T-X competition.
article

Boeing, Gulfstream, Bombardier Angle For USAF Special-Mission Work

Sep 26, 2016
As the U.S. Air Force presses forward with its J-Stars Recapitalization competition, a 10-aircraft Compass Call requirement has manufacturers vying for special-mission work.
article

France Sells 36 Rafale Fighters To India Amid Regional Tension

Sep 26, 2016
The contract between France and India is welcomed by French officials as a diplomatic coup, but it also looms large as part of the arms race between India and some of its neighbors—namely Pakistan and China.
article

The Week In Defense, Sept. 29-Oct. 5, 2016

Sep 29, 2016
In this week’s roundup, the U.S. Navy awards the first of two MQ-25 Stingray contracts; Europe takes another step toward a combat UAV; UK Defense Ministry backs space-based manufacturing; and Draken International helps the Japanese test a surface-to-air missile.

Connected Aerospace: Battlefield Communications

article

How To Get F-35s, F-22s Talking To Fourth-Generation Fighters

Sep 29, 2016
The goal is to network the combat air forces so that F-35s and F-22s can rapidly share information with fourth-generation jets. But the stovepiped communications architecture of days past complicates this picture.
article

U.S. Air Force Sticks With Northrop Airborne Comms Node

Sep 27, 2016
Air Combat Command’s EQ-4B and E-11A Battlefield Communications Node fleet have served as high-flying combat comms relays for eight years and counting.
article

Link 16 Modernization To Improve Air Force Airborne Networking

Sep 29, 2016
The U.S. Navy’s MIDS-JTRS terminal and tactical targeting networking technology waveform could equally support the Air Force’s future airborne networking architecture, defense companies believe.
article

Manufacturers Showcase Cross-Domain Potential Of Unmanned Aircraft

Sep 29, 2016
AeroVironment’s Blackwing lets a submarine control unmanned underwater vehicles; Lockheed Martin’s Vector Hawk launches from a UUV; and General Atomics’ Predator flies pod that extends data-link networks—UAS show potential to bridge combat domains.

Commercial Aviation

article

American Airlines Executes On Merger Promises

Sep 29, 2016
While the sunsetting of the US Airways brand is the most public change from its merger with American, most of the work of integration happened behind the scenes and in fact is continuing.
article

Air Berlin Cuts Back As German Airline Market Undergoes Sea Change

Sep 30, 2016
Air Berlin says it is on track for profitability in 2018, but serious doubts remain as to whether its complex set of measures will work.
article

Air Astana Sees Opportunity For China-Europe Transfer Business

Sep 28, 2016
An intercontinental transfer operation can be based largely on narrowbody aircraft, thanks to their rising range and the central location of Air Astana’s bases.
article

Airline Profits May Be Vulnerable, IATA Says

Sep 29, 2016
Passenger growth is showing signs of peaking, as IATA looks for new ways to sustain airline earnings.
article

ICAO’s Market-Based Measure Critical To Next Steps On Emissions

Sep 30, 2016
Environmental NGOs are less than sanguine about a proposed global market-based measure to offset aviation emissions, in part due to the initial voluntary phase.
article

Zodiac CEO Reflects On Production Challenges

Sep 27, 2016
Olivier Zarrouati spoke with Aviation Week about how the company plans to bounce back from delays and quality issues.
article

Aircraft Financiers Prepare For Market Slowdown

Sep 29, 2016
There is still disagreement over whether short-term aircraft demand has already peaked or is about to­—or whether there is time left until the going gets much tougher.

Technology

article

Aurora Advances MIT’s D8 Airliner Concept With Demo Plans

Sep 29, 2016
Aurora Flight Sciences plans ground tests and flight demonstrations to prove the efficiency improvements promised by MIT’s unconventional “double-bubble” D8 twin-aisle short-/medium-range airliner concept.
article

U.S. Air Force Lays Out Air-Breathing-Engine-Powered Launcher Studies

Sep 27, 2016
While everything still hinges on the precooler technology of Reaction Engines’ Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE), the Air Force Research Laboratory sees huge potential for the propulsion concept
article

The Week In Technology, Sept. 26-30, 2016

Sep 26, 2016
Bell’s V-247 unmanned tiltrotor; NASA seeks electric ideas; quieter approaches with DLR’s LNAS; JP Aerospace flies Ascender airship.

Inside Business Aviation

article

Kenmore Air Floatplane Operation, Now 70, Earned Its Cachet

Sep 28, 2016
Even Harrison Ford applauds this unique operation, started in 1946 by three World War II vets.

Leading Edge

article

Uber Joins Companies Pursuing Electric VTOL Transport

Sep 30, 2016
On one side Amazon, Google, Uber; and the other FedEx, UPS, DHL—are all looking hard at the potential for autonomous and electric aircraft to bring new ways of transporting goods and people.

In Orbit

article

Astronaut Vision Issues Revive Simulated-G-load Study

Sep 28, 2016
Artificial gravity for spacecraft had been largely abandoned as unnecessary, but it is making a comeback as a result of impaired vision issues.

Washington Outlook

article

Another Republican Backs Clinton

Sep 30, 2016
This week’s Washington Outlook: Virginia statesman praises Clinton; debate on reorganizing military space; and FAA probes Santa Monica’s airport closure plan.

Viewpoint

article

Opinion: Are Tiny Satellites The Future?

Sep 28, 2016
More than 40% of cubesats launched since 2000 failed in their missions.