The FAA on Sept. 29 signed off on Virgin Galactic’s plan to improve communications with the FAA during flight operations of SpaceShipTwo and request a larger zone of protected airspace to ensure violations, such as what occurred during its last flight on July 11, do not reoccur.
Boeing and the Defense Department have agreed on a contract worth up to $23.8 billion for C-17 sustainment over the next decade, starting with $3.5 billion for Globemaster III work through September 2024.
Integrating hypersonic glide missiles and scramjet-powered cruise missiles on the B-1B fleet is needed to “remain ahead of our strategic competitors,” a U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command spokesman says.
Eutelsat Communications confirmed Sept. 29 it had received an “unsolicited, preliminary” takeover proposal from billionaire Patrick Drahi but that his terms were not good enough.
Emerging from stealth mode, U.S. startup Lyten is promoting potential aviation applications for its high energy-density lithium-sulfur battery technology for electric vehicles.
Modeling future demand for electricity and hydrogen and ensuring safe airport handling are key focuses of 15 research projects awarded a total of £3 million ($4 million) in UK government funding.
The flagship James Webb Space Telescope has begun its 14-day journey from the coast of California through the Panama Canal to the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, program scientist Eric Smith told NASA’s Astrophysics Advisory Committee on Sept. 29.
A half-dozen NASA Mars rovers, landers and orbiters will cease or in some cases curtail their transmission and reception of data with Earth as the Solar System’s two most hospitable planets experience a two-week, once-every-two-year solar conjunction beginning Oct. 2.
Raytheon has demonstrated a new manned-unmanned (MUM-T) teaming technology in a flight test sponsored by the Strategic Capabilities Office, the company said Sept. 29.
Boeing is establishing an Integrated Product Team (IPT) to digitally pave the way for the design and production of its next commercial aircraft using capabilities and methods largely perfected on a recent set of military programs.
Germany is the third European nation to choose the P-8 following the UK and Norway after awarding a $756 million contract to Boeing for five of the maritime patrol aircraft.
Airbus Helicopters has been extolling the virtues of its H175 super-medium helicopter as a platform for the UK’s New Medium Helicopter with a series of demonstration flights.
RE2 Robotics has received U.S. Air Force funding to develop an autonomous system to automate certain flight line maintenance tasks during aircraft turnarounds.
