In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, Nov. 08 2022

Credit: H2Fly. Germany’s H2Fly has begun the integration of a liquid-hydrogen storage tank into its Hy4 fuel cell propulsion test aircraft.

Credit: Astra Space. Astra Space on Nov. 8 announced layoffs of 16% of its workforce and $119 million in write-downs of assets as the struggling rocket startup seeks a “financial runway” into 2024 amid a major business plan change.

Pentagon

Credit: Joel Kowsky/NASA. Preparations to launch NASA’s first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the Artemis I flight test have been suspended as Tropical Storm Nicole approaches Florida’s east coast, bumping liftoff to no earlier than Nov. 16.

Credit: U.S. Air Force. At the top of Air Mobility Command’s wish list, and among its biggest challenges, is connecting its aircraft through common datalinks and communication channels so that refueling tankers and airlifters can provide more to a fight beyond their traditional roles.

Credit: Kongsberg. The Pentagon is consulting with Ukraine on how to integrate Western, NATO standard air defense systems with its existing stock of Soviet-era systems as the first U.S.-provided advanced ground-to-air missile systems have arrived in the country’s war with Russia.

Credit: Volocopter. German emergency medical service operator ADAC Air Rescue envisions replacing fleets of medical vehicles with electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to transport doctors to emergency scenes. 

Credit: Cpl. Levi Voss/U.S. Marine Corps. Bell has delivered the last of 189 AH-1Z Viper helicopters ordered by the U.S. Marine Corps, ending domestic production of an H-1 family of aircraft that entered development for the Army in 1955. 

Credit: Airbus. A rebound in the commercial rotorcraft market is being hampered by a constrained supply chain that is impacting the supplies of electronic components and materials for engines, Safran Helicopter Engines CEO Franck Saudo says.

Credit: Gilmour Space. Australia’s Gilmour Space has completed the final qualification test-fire of its Sirius hybrid rocket engine, as it prepares for the country’s first attempt to launch an orbital rocket in 2023.

Credit: Joby Aviation. After a long wait, the FAA has published its proposed airworthiness criteria for Joby Aviation’s JAS4-1, providing the first detailed look at the certification basis for an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) powered-lift aircraft.

Credit: CNS/AFP/Getty Images. The FAA has issued Technical Standard Orders (TSO) certification for the Comac C919’s Weather Radar Flat Plate Antenna (WFA), designed by China’s AVIC Leihua Electronic Technology Research Institute (LETRI) with assistance from Collins Aerospace.

Credit: Swiss Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sports. Despite its small size and long-held position of neutrality, Switzerland possesses a highly capable air force that seeks to depend on organic capabilities rather than the assistance of allied nations.