Aerospace Developments To Watch For In 2023

The civil powered-lift era will arrive in 2023 with entry into service of the Leonardo AW609 tiltrotor after 20 years of development and the start of certification flight-testing for several electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.

International air travel should fully recover from the pandemic in 2023 and the airline industry return to profitability, but the year will open with the last delivery of the Boeing 747, the aircraft that ushered in air travel for the mass market.

A return of commercial supersonic air travel could move a step closer in 2023 with first flights of two key demonstrators, NASA’s low-boom Lockheed Martin X-59 Quesst (pictured) and startup Boom’s one-third-scale XB-1.

Workforce and supply chain issues became the top restraints on the industry’s recovery in 2022. In 2023, executives hope both will ease, although neither will be resolved.

Despite testing challenges, the U.S. Army’s boost-glide Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon is on track for fielding by the end of 2023, after a compressed five-year development program designed to catch up with China and Russia.

If 2022 was South Korea’s year, with the first flight of its KF-21 fighter, then 2023 could be Turkey’s, with plans to roll out the TF-X fighter prototype (pictured) and fly the Hurjet advanced trainer and Kizilelma uncrewed combat aircraft.

Several times delayed, a generational change in commercial space launch is expected in 2023 with first flights of the United Launch Alliance Vulcan early in 2023 and Europe’s Ariane 6 late in the year. They should be preceded by the first launch of SpaceX’s Starship/Super Heavy.

NASA plans to award a contract for its Sustainable Flight Demonstrator large-scale X-plane early in 2023, while ground-and flight-testing of zero-emission hydrogen propulsion will gather pace in Europe.

Expected in 2023, a decision on whether to reengine the Lockheed Martin F-35 could be pivotal for adaptive, variable-cycle turbofan engine technology that has been in development for more than two decades.