Universal Hydrogen has completed a 1-megawatt iron bird for ground testing of its zero-emissions fuel-cell propulsion system and announced the first customer in France for its regional aircraft conversion.
With funding support from the U.S. Air Force’s AFWerx innovation unit, Piasecki Aircraft plans full-scale ground tests and a scaled flight demonstration of hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion leading into development and certification of its planned PA-890 helicopter.
The F-35 Joint Program Office has delivered a modernized sustainment tracking system to 14 U.S. and European bases, completing the first phase of the rollout for the replacement of its glitch-prone predecessor.
Then-Vice Adm. Mat Winter, the former head of the F-35 Joint Program Office, introduced a new framework more than four years ago that would guide the Lockheed Martin fighter’s follow-on modernization program with a grand new vision for a software-enabled weapon system.
Lockheed Martin’s entrant in the U.S. Air Force’s KC-Y “bridge tanker” program would be assembled in Mobile, Alabama, and missionized Marietta, Georgia, should it win the award, and the company expects requirements to be outlined in a draft request for proposals (RFP) this year.
Aircraft propulsion batteries with three times the pack-level energy density of today’s automotive technology may be achievable in the next decade if enough investment is targeted at aeronautical applications, a new report published in Nature concludes.
Belgium has committed to around €10.2 billion ($11.4 billion) in additional defense spending over the next eight years, with procurements of helicopters and special forces aircraft to follow.
Under a joint project to create an optical internet service connecting low-orbiting satellites with high-flying unmanned aircraft, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Sony researchers have demonstrated high-speed, large-capacity communications in a low-quality, error-prone environment.
Masten Space Systems is touting progress with its Nighttime Integrated Thermal and Electricity system, designed as a low-cost/low-mass method for keeping electronics and payloads on commercial lunar landers alive during nights on the Moon.
Now that NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover team has cleared a pebble obstruction from its sample collection mechanism, the robot geologist is ready to resume drilling into selected rocks that may host evidence of past microbial life on the red planet.
Austria’s Diamond Aircraft has decided to adopt a Pratt & Whitney Canada turboprop engine for its DART tandem-seat training aircraft, after what the manufacturer described as an adjustment of its development program.
The helicopter operator believes the electric-powered advanced air mobility vehicles it has on order will require less MRO work than its current fleet.
Already cooperating with the U.S. Air Force through its Agility Prime program, startup Beta Technologies has received a contract from the U.S. Army to support flight testing of its Alia electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
The UK’s FlyZero research project has revealed its concept for a 75-seat regional airliner powered by liquid hydrogen as it finalizes its study on how to prepare the country’s aerospace industry to participate in the development of future zero-emissions commercial aircraft.
A Middle Eastern air force has conducted the first deployments of Yates Electrospace’s Silent Arrow GD-2000 unmanned cargo glider to take place outside the U.S., the company announced Jan. 31.
Honeywell is preparing to begin an accelerated development and test program for an aircraft electric propulsion unit developed with Japanese electric motor producer Denso.
Russia’s buildup of forces near Ukraine, including the deployment of combat aircraft and ballistic missiles, is at a scale not seen since the Cold War, and top U.S. and NATO officials are continuing to press the Kremlin to draw down and trying to make room for diplomacy.
A private investing firm associated with Boeing has invested more money in artificial intelligence specialist SparkCognition, helping to push the latter into the coveted “unicorn” realm of pre-revenue companies sporting valuations of $1 billion or more.
A Norwegian team has won the race to be first to fly an aircraft that will compete in the new Air Race E piloted all-electric racing series, which is scheduled to begin in 2023.
The Pentagon has stood up new efforts to reduce civilian casualties following high-profile incidents across the Middle East in which civilians were killed in U.S. airstrikes, with a new mitigation plan expected within 90 days.
Twelve-year-old Satellogic, an Earth observation satellite systems and analytics company, became publicly traded in late January after the reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), as well as an 11th-hour investment boost via former Trump administration Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
The U.S. Air Force has launched a market survey for a newly christened F-35 Adaptive Engine Replacement program, disclosing the first details of a still-unfunded proposal to replace the Pratt & Whitney F135 within five years of a possible contract award in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.
Thales Australia welcomed the move, saying it will accelerate collaboration and represented “a boost to the development of Australian sovereign hypersonic weapon capability.”
