In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, Nov. 10 2022

Credit: AFRL. Advanced Space LLC will demonstrate a spacecraft at a location about 200,000 mi. from Earth that can monitor other objects in the cislunar region, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) announced on Nov 10. 

Credit: Raytheon. Iran has built a hypersonic ballistic missile designed to evade and defeat air defense systems, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force said on Nov. 10. 

Credit: ULA/NASA. In a joint technology demonstration, United Launch Alliance (ULA) and NASA tested a 20-ft.-dia. inflatable heat shield that is intended to pave the way for a future rocket engine recovery system for ULA and a system for NASA to land heavy, human-class missions on Mars, among other uses. 

Credit: Kim Shiflett/NASA. Inspections are underway of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, which rode out a Category I hurricane at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B, with launch on the Artemis I flight test still targeted for Nov. 16.

ULCC Avelo Airlines is boosting its Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) presence, unveiling plans to turn the station into a base with as many as seven aircraft and adding service to six Florida cities.

Credit: Archer Aviation. Archer Aviation and United Airlines have announced that their first electric air taxi route will be between Newark Liberty International Airport and New York’s Downtown Manhattan Heliport.

Credit: Pratt & Whitney. Pratt & Whitney is expanding research work with NASA under the agency’s Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC) project to demonstrate the compatibility of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) with advanced combustors for small core engines.

T-7A Red Hawk

Credit: Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Germany’s Volocopter has been selected to participate in a project to develop a sustainable city on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay.

Credit: Universal Hydrogen. As a vast swath of aviation is turning to hydrogen as a central path to a sustainable future, some efforts are beginning to crystallize into concrete advancements. 

Credit: Bell Helicopter. Open opportunities for the supply of 4,074 new-build military aircraft worth $150.5 billion over the next decade have been identified within Aviation Week Network’s new 2023 Military Fleet & MRO Forecast.

Credit: Evolito. Spun out of automotive electric motor developer Yasa before it was acquired by Mercedes-Benz in 2021, UK startup Evolito is preparing to deliver its first aerospace-grade motors to customers in the first half of 2023 for early testing.

Credit: U.S. Army. The U.S. will send four Boeing AN/TWQ-1 Avenger air defense systems to Ukraine as part of the latest batch of $400 million in aid, along with additional Stinger missiles and munitions for Hawk air defenses.