Aerospace & Defense Roundup: Nov. 03

L3Harris Technologies will convert three Beechcraft King Air 350ERs into manned airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (MAISR) aircraft for the Canadian National Defense Department, the company announced on Nov. 2. Credit: L3Harris

Designers of urban air taxis are quick to correct anyone who calls their vehicles “flying cars,” as most are intended to fly over cities and not drive on the streets. But developers of true fly/drive vehicles continue to tout their progress toward the long-sought dream of a flying car in every garage. The latest is Slovakia’s KleinVision, which conducted the first airfield pattern flights with a prototype of its AirCar (V5) at the end of October. Credit: KleinVision

Belgian Air Force officials have been flight testing Diamond’s DART-550 turboprop trainer as a potential replacement for its fleet of SIAI-Marchetti SF-260 aircraft. Belgium is looking for a basic flight training capability, according to Diamond, which detailed the evaluations in a Nov. 3 press release. Credit: Diamond Aircraft

USS Gerald R. Ford

Harpoon

British start-up rotary-wing OEM Hill Helicopters has unveiled a turbine engine developed in-house that will go on to power the company’s HX50 light helicopter. Hill’s 500-shp GT50 uses a modular design with two-spool turboshaft, comprising a single-stage centrifugal compressor driven by a two-stage axial turbine and a single-stage free power turbine, all weighing in at 100 kg

Carter Aviation Technologies’ PAV4 gyroplane prototype has returned to flight as a technology demonstrator for Jaunt Air Mobility’s Journey electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing air taxi. Credit: Carter Aviation Technologies

Electric aircraft developer Bye Aerospace has attracted another investor, South Korean startup Aerospace9. Led by Asian information-technology entrepreneur Seunghyuk Cha, Seoul-based Aerospace9 is exiting stealth mode and has signed purchase deposit agreements for 300 Bye aircraft. Credit: Bye Aerospace

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) wants to move some employees from its suspended SpaceJet program to defense activities, as part of a wider intention to apply skills from the civil aeronautics business to the rest of the group. Credit: Mitsubishi Aircraft

Boeing has delivered fuselage sections for the UK Royal Air Force’s first two E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning platforms. Two Section 46 components were delivered to STS Aviation’s Birmingham, England, site where they will be fitted to two green 737-700 airframes as part of the E-7 conversion. Credit: Royal Australian Air Force