In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, May 23, 2022

Textron Acquisition Fuels Pipistrel’s Ambitions

Slovenian aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel, now under Textron ownership, plans to grow its workforce and accelerate development of new products, including the Nuuva hybrid-electric uncrewed cargo aircraft. Credit: Bill Carey/ShowNews

Decarbonization Prize Targets 100th Anniversary Of Lindbergh Flight

With aviation facing a growing sustainability challenge, the Lindberg Foundation and XPrize Foundation have come together to launch the Forever Flight Alliance. Their goal is to accelerate the decarbonization of aviation through incentive prizes. Credit: Library of Congress

Starliner Advances Second U.S. Commercial Crew Launch Capability

The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) continues to check out Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner following its suspenseful rendezvous and docking on May 20. The seven-person ISS became the temporary home to a potential third means of crew transportation at 8:28 p.m. EDT Friday as the uncrewed Starliner docked autonomously to the U.S. segment Harmony module’s forward docking port. Credit: NASA

Lilium, Honeywell, DENSO Announce Electric Motor Partnership

German eVTOL manufacturer Lilium has signed a formal partnership with its avionics provider Honeywell and Japanese automotive specialist DENSO to co-develop and manufacture electric motors for the Lilium Jet. Credit: Mark Wagner/Aviation Images

Kaman Acquires Parker’s Wheel And Brake Business For $440 Million

Kaman is to acquire the aircraft wheel and brake business of Parker Hannifin, enabling Parker to proceed with its acquisition of UK-based Meggitt. Parker’s divestment of the Avon, Ohio-based business allows it to comply with the European Commission’s competition investigation, which found that Parker’s acquisition of Meggitt would reduce the number of suppliers for wheels and brakes.

The Weekly Debrief: MDA Chief Offers Window Into Hypersonic Defense Decision-Making

Opening a window into internal decision-making over the final requirements for a new interceptor against hypersonic missiles, the head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has cited the significance of, in fact, an actual window. To defeat China’s DF-17 hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), the MDA wants to shoot it down during the phase of flight when it should be most vulnerable. Credit: Raytheon

NASA Addresses Spacesuit Water Leak Issue

Boeing’s automated Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) Starliner has delivered some NASA spacesuit water absorption pads to the International Space Station (ISS) to help address a worrisome helmet leak experienced by European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthais Maurer at the conclusion of a March 23 spacewalk. A small amount of water that lined the inner visor of his helmet was noted as he removed his spacesuit in the ISS U.S. segment Quest airlock following a 7-hr. spacewalk outside the ISS with NASA astronaut Raja Chari. The astronauts were addressing a variety of maintenance tasks and upgrade activities. Credit: NASA

Honeywell Readies GPS-Denied Navigation Systems For Market

Honeywell is developing a suite of alternative navigation technologies to combat increasing disruption of GPS signals, intentional and unintentional, with the first products planned to be on the market in 2023. “Alternate navigation is technology that utilizes non-inertial sensors such as cameras, star trackers, radars and radios to provide position information that we can fuse with our inertial navigation sensors,” said Thandava Edara, Honeywell produce director for alternative navigation technologies. Credit: Honeywell

New Aid For Ukraine Includes Harpoon Missiles, Attack Helicopters

More than 20 nations announced new packages of military aid for Ukraine following a meeting of more than 40 countries on May 23, the Pentagon announced. The second meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group took place virtually and was hosted by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who said following the meeting that the nations have a better understanding of what Ukraine needs to continue its fight against Russia in the nation’s east. Credit: DOD

Many Roads Will Lead to Sustainability, EBACE Panel Hears

It is time to back up the strong words with urgent action if the business-aviation sector is to meet the ambitious sustainability goals it has set itself, a lively panel discussion heard on the first day of EBACE. The lunchtime session found representatives of innovative companies representing different parts of the sustainable aviation ecosystem largely in agreement about their ultimate objectives. Credit: Mark Wagner/Aviation Images

UH-72 Fleet Nets $1.5 Billion Logistics Deal For Airbus

Airbus has received a U.S. Army contract worth potentially more than $1.5 billion to provide logistics support to the UH-72A/B Lakota fleet over the next 5 years, the company said on May 23. The contract award includes a six-month performance period and options for the next 4 1/2 years, Airbus said. Credit: Lacey Justinger/U.S. Army

GE Tests Global 7500/8000 Passport Engine On 100% SAF

GE Aviation has ground-tested its Passport long-range business-jet engine, the powerplant for the Bombardier Global 7500 and new 8000, on 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for the first time. The 17,000-19.000-lb. thrust-class turbofan was tested over several days in March at GE Aviation’s Peebles, Ohio, test site running on neat HEFA (hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids) synthetic paraffinic kerosene, the most widely available SAF today. Credit: Mark Wagner/Aviation Images

EU Mulls Framework For More Coordinated Defense Procurement

The European Union (EU) says it will help strengthen Europe’s defense industries and address short- and medium-term capability gaps in the defense of member states with additional fiscal support and tax breaks. While defense spending in Europe has been increasing since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and is set to rise even higher since the invasion of Ukraine, the EU is concerned that member states are not coordinating their procurements, leading to further fragmentation of the defense industry. Credit: Airbus

From Pipistrel's plans to grow its workforce and accelerate development of a hybrid-electric uncrewed cargo aircraft, to the Lindberg Foundation and XPrize Foundation launching the Forever Flight Alliance to accelerate the decarbonization of aviation through incentive prizes. Take a look at these and more in our daily roundup of aerospace & defense news.

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