Peter Ireland’s company, Edge Aerodynamix, is about to receive FAA approval for a new type of drag reduction device that seems too good to be true. His job now is to make believers of the airlines.
After years of shunning aerospace as too slow and too expensive, venture capitalists are suddenly interested—and investing. Meanwhile, big aerospace corporations and the U.S. Defense Department are looking to bring “disruptive” commercial thinking in house. Executive Editor Jim Asker, Senior Business Editor Michael Bruno and Graham Warwick, the managing editor for technology, discuss whether the two cultures can ever mix.
India-Russia team up on helo sustainment; sale of P-8s to U.K. advances; Lockheed receives F-35 modernization modification; and Space Fence opens test facility.
Starburst Accelerator is a two-year-old global A&D and security technology incubator and investor matchmaker—the first dedicated to the aerospace sector.
In past year, the total program cost of the Orbital Control System network has grown 16% to more than $4.1 billion, largely to software development issues.
A philanthropic business aviation group—Corporate Angel Network—marks a major “miracle” milestone, transporting its 50,000th cancer patient for treatment free of charge.
More important than the political struggle over how many Russian RD-180 engines to allow for national security launches is the intense commercial competition to replace it altogether.
The choice is effectively between market potential maximization and operating economics: A single-aisle jet offers lower production and operating costs but would miss much of the replacement market; a twin-aisle could stimulate new demand but would be more expensive to produce and operate.
NASA researchers, together with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) are planning demonstrations of an autonomous unmanned aircraft system (UAS) capable of planning, launching, navigating and refueling itself.
A mission to count moose footprints is the first commercial unmanned-aircraft mission in Canada to be approved for beyond-visual-line-of-sight operation.
Pilot warns of dangers from drones | Need for artificial gravity on long space missions noted | Proponent of U.S. opposition to expansion of Gulf carriers’ U.S. routes
Phase 1, completed in 2010, indicated a TTBW design could reduce fuel consumption by 5-10% over a conventional cantilevered wing. Now Phase 3 tackles transonic capabilities.
Aerospace and Defense is confronting human-replacing advances such as digitization, 3-D printing, automation, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and connectivity, all of which are likely to reduce jobs in the industry.
Frontier Airlines has promoted Barry Biffle to chief executive officer; he will remain president, a position he has held since 2014. Before joining Frontier, Biffle was CEO of VivaColombia, the first ultra-low-cost carrier in South America, and prior to that had been executive vice president of Spirit Airlines.
April 1-2—Pilots Review of Proficiency (PROP) 2016. Dallas/Addison Marriott. Dallas. See turbineair.com/prop-2016 April 4-8—Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference. European Space Agency. Noordwijk aan Zee, Netherlands. See congrexprojects.com/2016-events/14sctc/introduction
Barring a breakthrough worthy of a Nobel Prize, it is extremely unlikely electric and solar will play a significant role in reducing aviation’s environmental footprint anytime soon.
