Aerospace & Defense Roundup: Sep. 02

A 2,000-lb. class alternative to more controversial cluster bombs passed a series of live fire tests in July, the U.S. Air Force announced on Aug. 27. Credit: US Air Force

The first of two aircraft fitted with a modular hybrid-electric propulsion system developed under a European research program is expected to fly in September. The four-seat HY4 has been fitted with a hydrogen fuel-cell version of the power train. Credit: Mahepa project

Mars

The latest version of the Northrop Grumman solid rocket motor (SRM) assigned to NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Moon rocket roared to life Sept. 2 for a full-duration, 2-min. ground test firing at company facilities in Promontory, Utah. Credit: NASA

Honeywell Aerospace has established an avionics integration lab for urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles at its Deer Valley facility in Phoenix. Credit: Honeywell Aerospace

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) and Spain’s Sener Aerospacial are developing an underwing pod that will enable European customers of the MQ-9 Reaper and SkyGuardian to fit sovereign sensors to the unmanned air system. Credit: Sener Aerospacial

U.S. Capitol

Tokyo’s Metropolitan Government is studying whether Leonardo’s AW609 commercial tiltrotor could be used to link the city with a remote island archipelago. The Japanese government has been studying options for how to link the Ogasawara Islands, 621 mi. south of Tokyo, with the mainland for more than a decade. But the proposals have faced opposition over environmental concerns, as the islands are a World Heritage Site. Credit: Leonardo

Minuteman III launch.