SkyDrive and the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau have agreed to the type certification basis for the Tokyo-based startup’s SD-05 electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxi.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is to cooperate with Kawasaki Heavy Industries on the development of core technologies for hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft.
If in past years the U.S. Air Force was hedging its bets on notional, more affordable aircraft designs, it is now embracing the strategy of high-end air power to counter China, placing its dollars behind the F-35 fighter, the B-21 bomber and the future Next Generation Air Dominance fighter family.
UK startup Vertical Aerospace has pushed back certification and first deliveries of its VX4 air taxi to 2025, from 2024, as it prepares to begin flight tests of its full-scale demonstrator this summer.
French satellite startup Prométhée has contracted with NanoAvionics to build a hyperspectral nanosatellite demonstrator. The ProtoMéthée-1 will be based on NanoAvionics’ 16U nanosatellite bus M16P and would be a forerunner to plans to launch a 20-satellite constellation by 2025, Prométhée said on April 29.
The first flights of an all-electric aircraft designed and built in the UK have been accomplished under a project led by Cranfield University as part of the UK government-supported Future Flight Challenge.
Lockheed Martin is demonstrating how it can integrate U.S. Army land-based air defense radars into longer-range systems such as the U.S. Navy’s Aegis, with a specific eye on the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) high priority of defending Guam.
Electric propulsion startup MagniX is teaming with flight test specialists AeroTEC and Canadian operator Air Tindi to convert a De Havilland Canada Dash 7 into a testbed for NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project.
A proposal for a new DARPA program would fund four new flight tests of a scramjet-powered cruise missile to build on lessons learned from the ongoing Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, the agency says in budget planning documents.
Axiom Space has signed an agreement to provide a United Arab Emirates professional astronaut with a six-month tour of duty aboard the International Space Station.
DARPA has secretly tested a hypersonic Tactical Boost Glide system as a risk-reduction effort for the U.S. Air Force’s Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon.
During an April 28 spacewalk, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev enabled the first motion of the European Space Agency’s 37-ft. robot arm, a multipurpose manipulator that was launched to the International Space Station in July 2021 as part of the Russian Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module.
A glide bomb equipped with a new seeker destroyed a full-scale ship in the Gulf of Mexico test range for the second time on April 28, moving a technology for a new class of air-launched weapons closer to fielding, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory says.
The F-35 program is struggling to find enough funding to fully stand up and resource the jet’s depots because the Pentagon’s habit of underfunding the maintenance facilities while expecting cost reductions in contract negotiations is not playing out as expected, the program executive says.
Northrop Grumman is progressing on workforce absenteeism issues that plagued its F-35 program over the winter, and otherwise does not see particular problems elsewhere in its portfolio due to ongoing inflation, labor, pandemic or war-related issues, the large prime’s chief executive said April 28.
Boeing on April 28 unveiled the first T-7A Red Hawk trainer for the U.S. Air Force, though the aircraft will remain at the company’s St. Louis facility for more ground and flight tests before being handed over to the service.
President Joe Biden on April 28 requested $33 billion from Congress for aid to Ukraine, a dramatic increase from ongoing spending to support Kyiv in its fight against Russia, and specifically highlights a need for anti-aircraft and advanced air defense systems.
Science missions using the Boeing 747SP-based Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy airborne observatory will end in September 2022 after the U.S. National Academies assessed the science output no longer justifies its operating costs.
Despite the Russia-Ukraine war and volatility in the stock market, business aircraft activity at Textron Aviation has remained strong during the first quarter of 2022, company officials say.
Fresh off comments about problems with rocket motor supply and the need to make small, strategic acquisitions for advanced aerospace technology, Raytheon Technologies has invested in custom-made rocket engine-maker Firehawk Aerospace.
U.S. air medical transport company Air Methods has partnered with startup Skyryse to retrofit more than 400 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft with full-authority fly-by-wire flight controls to improve safety.
Aircraft Industries, the manufacturer of the Let family of turboprop regional aircraft, is now back in Czech hands after being acquired from its Russian owners.
South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee has greenlit the KRW760 billion ($600 million) purchase of Raytheon SM-6 missiles for the navy’s new KDX III Batch II destroyers.
