China’s forthcoming trunkliner will fly in about eight years, says manufacturer Comac, suggesting that the project has brought forward its service-entry goal of 2020. The company has completed the preliminary design and feasibility study for the aircraft, which will be called the C919, says chief designer Wu Guanghui. Comac says it is looking for foreign suppliers, including engine makers, and will choose those contractors at an early stage in the development.

Despite Australia’s abrupt withdrawal from a Pentagon-led unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft project, the U.S. Navy says it is still on course for deliveries in the middle of the next decade. Australia announced last week that it would not provide the $300 million required to participate in the development of the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned air vehicle, citing competing budget demands. The Royal Australian Air Force’s focus now is fielding the manned Boeing 737-based P-8A Poseidon to replace its ­AP-3C fleet.

China’s first orbital station will be the national space program’s testbed for automatic docking, one of four technological hurdles that must be cleared before launching a big space station a decade from now. The small, short-life space station, already identified as Tiangong 1, will be launched as soon as next year. Its mass has grown from the 8 metric tons (17,600 lb.) previously stated and is now given as 8.5 tons, still within the capability of several members of the Long March 2 and 3 family of rockets.