Aerospace & Defense Roundup: July 08

First Netherlands Reaper Rolled Out

General Atomics has rolled out the first MQ-9 Reaper medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for the Netherlands. Credit: Netherlands Ministry of Defense

FAA, Transport Canada Direct Bell Rotor Hub Inspections

Transport Canada and the FAA have issued an emergency airworthiness directives (AD) requiring main-rotor hub inspections of certain Bell helicopters following the fatal crash of a Bell 212 last month in Canada. Credit: Helimax Aviation

Blade Shares UAM Experience With EVTOL Partners

Using its experience in providing on-demand helicopter service in New York and other cities, Blade Urban Air Mobility is working with electric air-taxi developers to tailor their aircraft to its operations. Credit: Blade Urban Air Mobility

U.S. Navy Assesses Air Training Needs Against China, Russia

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are lacking the necessary training capacity for a war with China or Russia and plan to issue an in-depth analysis in December that could reveal what will be required. Credit: Wikipedia

Space Data Integrator Now Operational, Reports FAA

The FAA on July 8 formally announced the entry into service of its Space Data Integrator (SDI), a system that enables the agency to track rockets and reentry vehicles in near real-time as they transition through the airspace. Air traffic management specialists monitor SDI at FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Warrenton, Virginia. Credit: Bill Carey

Commercial Aviation Profits May Not Reach Breakeven In 2021

Euphoria may be creeping into industry chatter with recent airline orders for large commercial aircraft and OEM forecasts for ramping up monthly production rates, but a new report from consultants at AlixPartners warns profits in the industry this year are likely to barely reach breakeven at best. Credit: Thom Lang / Getty Images

France Tests Anti-UAS Laser To Combat ‘Evolving Threat’

France has tested a laser weapon as a defense against unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that it hopes to use in protect major public events starting in 2023. Details of the firing trials by France’s defense materiel agency, DGA, were revealed by Defense Minister Florence Parly during a visit to DGA’s Biscarosse missile test facilities near Bordeaux on July 7. Credit: Cilas-Ariane

Competition To Boost Airport Transition To Zero-Emission Aircraft

Charged with enabling zero-emission transatlantic flight within a generation, the UK’s Jet Zero Council has launched a competition designed to demonstrate how airport upgrades could enable the introduction of electric- and hydrogen-powered aircraft. Credit: ITM Power

Launch Of Russian ISS Module Slips To July 21

The launch of a Proton-M heavy-lift rocket carrying Nauka—the new scientific module for the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS)—has been delayed from July 15 to July 21 due to technical issues, Roscosmos State Corporation said July 8 . Liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is now targeted for 5.58 p.m. Moscow time (10.58 a.m. EDT) on July 21, with backup launch opportunities on July 22 and 23. Credit: Roscosmos

Project Targets Novel Controls For Complex Configurations

Two subscale models of a fan-in-wing vertical-takeoff business jet are to fly in 2022 under a UK government-supported research project to develop flight control systems for novel aircraft configurations. Credit: Pegasus Universal Aerospace

Volansi Names Former USAF Acquisition Roper As CEO

Volansi has named former U.S. Air Force acquisition leader Will Roper as the delivery drone maker’s next CEO. Roper, who stepped down in January as assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, joined the board of directors of Volansi in March. Credit: USAF

SpaceX Cargo Dragon Makes Weather-Delayed ISS Departure

SpaceX’s 22nd Dragon resupply mission spacecraft is headed for a late July 9 splashdown and recovery off Florida’s Gulf Coast, following a weather-delayed departure from the International Space Station’s (ISS) U.S. segment with a 5,300-lb. return payload of science experiments, technology development hardware and other equipment. Credit: NASA

European Customer Signs For Cargo Ekranoplans

U.S. startup Flying Ship Technologies has signed a purchase agreement with an unidentified European customer for its wing-in-ground-effect maritime cargo vessels. Valued at $100 million, the agreement is secured by a deposit that is cancellable and refundable up to 90 days before delivery of the first of the ekranoplan-style vehicles. Credit: Flying Ship Technologies

Russia To Fly Superconducting Electric Propulsion After Fixes

Following modifications to overcome issues uncovered during taxi tests, a Russian flying testbed is being prepared for the first-ever flight to use a superconducting electric motor for propulsion. The Yakovlev Yak-40LL flying laboratory has been modified by Russian superconducting materials specialist SuperOx and Siberian aeronautical research Institute SibNIA under the Kontur project funded by the Foundation for Advanced Research, Russia’s equivalent of DARPA in the U.S. Credit: Foundation for Advanced Research

Lufthansa Technik/Hamburg To Demo Hydrogen Ground Handling

Lufthansa Technik, working with the City of Hamburg and other German partners, plans to modify an Airbus A320 to test maintenance and ground-handling procedures for liquid-hydrogen-powered aircraft. Operation of the demonstrator is planned to begin in 2022. Credit: Hamburg Marketing