Aviation Week & Space Technology

N ASA has named Thomas Zurbuchen associate administrator-science. Zurbuchen—a former University of Michigan professor of space science and engineering—succeeds Geoffrey Yoder, who will retire.

Shelley Lavender explains how Boeing continues to reinvent platforms by adding technology during sustainment and production.

Ongoing problems of once-promising low-cost carrier Fastjet have much to do with the difficult operating environment for airlines in Africa.

Connectivity and a new service economy will make the flight deck of the future more like a smartphone. Systems from weather radar to the APU could benefit.

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

Bell-Boeing moves to accelerate implementation of barrier-type filter to aid operations missions in wake of 2015 crash that killed two Marines.

Progress on Warsaw’s flagship defense programs for helicopters and missile defense is mired in red tape.

In this week’s Washington Outlook, research funding for advanced helicopter engines; the SpaceX-ULA spat; managing risk at the border and the hunt for counter-UAV technology.

How airframe and engine contractors are responding to the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift plans. Oh, and a bit about the F-35, too.

In addition to NASA's hybrid-electric propulsion research for small aircraft, projects are underway in France, Russia and elsewhere in Europe.

Could short-range commuter flights to small communities lacking air service be the application that makes commercial hybrid-electric aircraft a reality?

In this week’s roundup, U.S. Army upgrades Hellfires; Philippines receive Korean light attack aircraft; Romania accepts Portugese F-16s; managing space traffic.

The Russian airline-based S7 Group plans to modernize the Sea Launch project as it looks to diversify and venture into space launches.

As the number of smallsat constellations grows, international satellite tracking bodies see increased risk of space debris problems unless mitigations measures are adopted.

The outgoing chief of the U.S. “Mighty Eighth” Air Force has thrown his support behind a reengining of the Pratt & Whitney TF33 turbofan-powered Boeing B-52 heavy bomber.

Solvay’s recent acquisition of Cytec may spur innovation in thermoplastics, other materials.

Volocopter family plan could see initial urban operations by 2020, with four-seater air taxi operations starting as early as 2022.

Chinese airport officials expect relatively new intercontinental services to survive even after local government subsidies expire.

Mitsubishi Aircraft is notably failing to restate the target for first delivery of the MRJ, instead saying it is committed to achieving certification in 2018.

Spike supersonic bizjet; Perlan stratospheric glider; Solar Ship hybrid; Lufthansa drones for blade inspection; UPS drone deliveries.

Airbus Group is merging with the commercial airplane unit in a move that streamlines management and strengthens CEO Tom Enders. Cost efficiencies are a key target as the group battles with struggling programs such as the A380 and A400M.

The Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko ended with a bang and not a whimper, a planned crash into a deep pit in the comet, with final images sent on its way down.

Smuggled American-built helicopters are displayed publicly at Wonsan show.

Elon Musk outlines plan to build a transportation system to create a self-sustaining human “civilization” on Mars and make mankind a “multiplanet species.”