Aviation Week & Space Technology

Readers comment on global Flanker fleet; curbing defense spending; enhancing Super Hornet; Bombardier's status; Person of Year candidates
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By Jens Flottau
Boeing’s task is to develop an A300/310 done right, a technologically up-to-date yet affordable 757/767 hybrid. Easily done? Absolutely not. Impossible? Absolutely not.
Air Transport

Upcoming aviation and aerospace industry events and Aviation Week Network events

By Jen DiMascio
Republicans want more dollars for the military. Democrats are unlikely to lift budget caps for defense.
Defense

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

By Thierry Dubois
After MSH postponed certification several times, shareholder Lynwood wants MSH to end its laboratory culture and become a full-fledged rotorcraft manufacturer.
Aviation Week & Space Technology

By Jen DiMascio
Russia won’t buy T-50 fighters until 2018, India tests BrahMos that can fly 450 km, Canada firms up plans to buy F/A-18 Super Hornets and Malaysia finally receives its fourth A400M.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Renegotiation of scope clause restrictions is worrisome to makers of new RJs and associated sectors such as appraisers; few are predicting much change.
Air Transport

By Thierry Dubois
Ruag faces some challenges due to Swiss neutrality laws, but hopes to use experience on the Airbus A320 and composites to be in line for narrowbody contracts.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Jens Flottau
After a prolonged fiduciary scandal and transition in leadership, Austrian composites specialist FACC hopes it is now back to business as usual.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Jen DiMascio
Rapid evolution of technology and a drop in data prices cause satellite operators to spend time pondering next moves
Commercial Space

The Air Force has tried to buy a light-attack aircraft before, and the plan fell victim to budget constraints. Will this time be different?
Aircraft & Propulsion

Latin American airlines, LCCs as well as mainline are looking to offer lower fares in the market.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Byron Callan
Unusual factors may unfold related to assessment of Trump’s 2018 Defense budget that could lead to peak Pentagon spending.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
The Vahana autonomous air taxi, the vertical-takeoff CityAirbus and the Pop.Up modular ground/air concept vehicle are all visible evidence of Airbus’s intensifying studies of urban air transportation.
Aerospace

By Irene Klotz
Musk’s company worked with the U.S. government to develop the Autonomous Flight Safety System that will prompt the launch vehicle to destruct if it flies off course.
Space

New vertical-takeoff-and-landing drone has twin rotor systems to provide full-authority control in rotary-wing mode, and a swept wing to provide speed and range in fixed-wing mode.
Aircraft & Propulsion

A debate that began with the Obama administration is continuing under Trump: when to head for Mars and how to leverage cislunar efforts toward that goal?
Space

By Michael Bruno
If recent comments are any indication, engine-makers are more willing to consider each other’s core architecture, and all see the services end of their business evolving in a decade.
Air Transport

By William Garvey
Can the millennial generation revitalize general aviation?
Business Aviation

By Graham Warwick
Supersonic laminar flow; laser strike protection; drone-carrying Land Rover; Airlander design changes; and the NLR’s composite engine pylon.
Aerospace

By Thierry Dubois
Dedicated unmanned air traffic management systems must be developed quickly to meet rising demand for UAV operations.
Connected Aerospace

By Bradley Perrett
Availability of Australia’s Airbus attack helicopters is improving—but maybe not quickly enough to stave off early disposal.
Defense

Ten down, 65 to go: Aireon has successful power-up and aircraft tracking for its first batch of satellite-based surveillance satellites.
Aviation Week & Space Technology

By Jen DiMascio, Graham Warwick
Lt. Col. David Berke, the only U.S. Marine Corps pilot to have flown an F-22 and the first operational F-35B pilot, explains how fifth-generation fighters will revolutionize air warfare.
Defense