Aviation Week & Space Technology

By Bradley Perrett
Honda Aircraft handed over 43 HondaJets in 2017, only the second full year of deliveries. Its North Carolina plant is designed to build six units a month.
Business Aviation

General Atomics, Phantom Works and Skunk Works have uncloaked their MQ-25A designs as decision time approaches. Here’s what we now know.
Defense

By Jen DiMascio
The former congressman has been a champion of commercial space efforts, which should serve him well as SpaceX and Boeing prepare to launch humans to space.
Space

By William Garvey
After a 60-year production run, the Pilatus PC-6 Porter line is shutting down.
Business Aviation

By Tony Osborne
Aviation Week talks to the head of the Italian Air Force about the JSF and the service's other needs.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Powering unmanned aircraft via laser beam could increase endurance and allow larger payloads, with high-bandwidth data sent back over the same beam.
Connected Aerospace

By Jens Flottau, Guy Norris, Maksim Pyadushkin, Bradley Perrett
Airbus and Boeing ramp up production and roll out new models as new competitors undergo flight testing.
Air Transport

By Graham Warwick
Canada backs Bell air taxi; DARPA wants fast launches; Safran invests in microturbines; Volocopter’s urban mobility vision; SkyNRG tests new biofuel
Aerospace

By Thierry Dubois
Europe’s major players in space have long questioned the business case of reusing launchers but are evidently changing their minds.
Space

By Bradley Perrett
Potential Chinese buyers of large business jets assume that Washington and Beijing will resolve their trade dispute.
Business Aviation

By Sean Broderick, Michael Bruno
Operators are seeking greater efficiency, with prognostics beginning to emerge as a factor.
Air Transport

Readers mull the merit of the MQ-25; multiple sources in mission-critical ops; the need for LBFD; regulatory compliance for cabin redesigns; and laud time-based separation.
Feedback

By Bill Carey
Emergency landing of Southwest Boeing 737 focuses attention on CFM56 engine type.
Aviation Week & Space Technology

Upcoming aviation and aerospace industry events and Aviation Week Network events.

By Guy Norris, Helen Massy-Beresford, Sean Broderick, Adrian Schofield
New blades that will solve issue are at least a year away. Regulators to slash ETOPS clearance for low-time aircraft to 140 min., down from 330 min.
Air Transport

By Graham Warwick
U.S. Army is accelerating several programs to improve air defense of deployed forces, particularly against the growing threat from drones.
Defense

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
First Take

By Irene Klotz, Guy Norris, Jen DiMascio
A rare alignment of military space objectives and commercial initiatives catapult industry into a new frontier.
Space

By Joe Anselmo, Graham Warwick
“We’re going to see small and medium-sized companies here in Montreal get the opportunity to deal with Airbus as suppliers,” said Dominque Anglade.
Air Transport

Lynda Rutledge was appointed program executive officer for the U.S. Air Force Mobility Directorate at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

By Graham Warwick
The team aims to demo the tactical value of the coaxial-rotor compound helicopter to the medium-lift utility mission now performed by the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Bell aims to demonstrate that its advanced tiltrotor is affordable and has hover performance and low-speed agility equivalent to a helicopter.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Michael Bruno
As the aerospace industry welcomes the pending wave of aircraft products and services, experts warn that the promises of today can turn into problems.
Air Transport

Almost 70% of Indian defense procurement comes from abroad. Private companies will grow as more is made locally.
Defense

By Thierry Dubois, Jen DiMascio
France hopes to benefit from a favorable business climate to find Indian suppliers and joint ventures, but faces logistical challenges and stiff competition.
Aircraft & Propulsion