Aerospace & Defense Roundup: June 09

Boeing now expects to deliver the VC-25B to the U.S. Air Force a year late, service officials said on June 8. The disclosure by the Air Force’s top acquisition official during the House Armed Services subcommittee on Power Projection Forces adds key details to the non-specific delay for the Air Force One replacement program announced by Boeing in late April. Credit: Boeing

Kitty Hawk has completed its first operational exercise with the U.S. Air Force’s AFWerx innovation unit assessing the ability of the company’s Heaviside electric vertical-takeoff aircraft to perform medical evacuation, personnel recovery and logistics. Credit: Kitty Hawk

F-35B

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter completed a seventh excursion through the skies of Mars on June 8, traveling south 348 ft. in 62.8 sec. as part of a series of flight tests to prepare for future aerial planetary exploration campaigns. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

EHang has added Japan to the list of countries where it has conducted trials of its EH216 autonomous air taxi. The Chinese startup conducted the first 5-min. unmanned flight at Kasaoka Air Station in Okayama Prefecture on June 4. Credit: EHang

Honeywell has signed a contract to supply the avionics and flight control systems for Lilium’s electric regional air taxi. The U.S. aerospace company will also invest in Lilium as part of the German startup’s plan to go public through a merger with blank-check company Qell Acquisition. Credit: Lilium

NATO defense ministers have signed an agreement to create a network of flight training centers across Europe that could reduce reliance on U.S.-based training facilities. Credit: NATO

NASA’s Lunar IceCube has completed prelaunch environmental testing at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, in preparation for its flight as a secondary payload aboard the Artemis I mission later this year. As part of NASA’s Artemis I unpiloted, circumlunar test flight of the Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule, Lunar IceCube will further assess the quantity and distribution of water ice at the Moon. Credit: NASA

XTI Aircraft has secured funding to complete preliminary design of its TriFan 600 hybrid-electric vertical-takeoff business aircraft, with the prospect of additional funds to build and fly a full-scale prototype. Credit: XTI Aircraft