Aviation Week & Space Technology

By Michael Bruno
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.
Defense

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

David Hess
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.
Air Transport

The FlyDubai Flight 981 crash on March 19 will no doubt renew concerns about how pilots handle the rare instances when they abort an approach.
Air Transport

By Graham Warwick
The methods, modes and materials that go into creating an airframe have evolved throughout the years through trial and error and technological advances. Highlights of this evolution are featured.
Air Transport

By Jen DiMascio
Aerospace titan puts “faith” in political process | Voters reject the F-35 | Inspector General investigates government contracts to ULA.
Air Transport

By Graham Warwick
Boom Technology intends to develop 40-seat, Mach 2.2 airliner that will be competitive on ticket prices with international business-class airfares.
Air Transport

The first Airbus assembled in the U.S., an A321 for JetBlue Airways, made its first flight from the Mobile, Alabama, plant on March 21. The aircraft is scheduled for delivery after a few more weeks in final production.
First Take

Fully securing public spaces through additional security checks would be unrealistic, inefficient and costly, argues ACI Europe.
Air Transport

Curtiss-Wright’s commercial off-the-shelf hardware has made today’s bounty of space missions and research affordable.
Space

By Jen DiMascio, Graham Warwick
U.S. Navy pilots are increasingly reporting headaches, confusion and other symptoms of oxygen deprivation, or hypoxia. We talk about how the Navy is responding to the problem and the complicated nature of pinpointing the cause of such physiological problems, which the Air Force has grappled with on the F-16 and F-22.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
After several false starts, exports look more realistic for Britain’s Brimstone.
Defense

By Jen DiMascio
The U.S. Defense and State Departments scrap over speed of foreign weapons sales; tests of the PAC-3 MSE and Trident II D5; a new joint venture in India.
Defense

By Maxim Pyadushkin
Russia received 96 new fixed-wing aircraft and 81 helicopters in 2015, a drop from 2014, the apparent peak in orders placed over the last decade.
Defense

U.S. Navy, Marine Corps engineers are focusing on oxygen and environmental systems in their search for solutions to ongoing F-18 hypoxia problems.
Defense

By Maxim Pyadushkin
The new space plan provides 1.4 trillion rubles ($20.5 billion) through 2025—but largely guts earlier proposals to send humans to the Moon in the next decade and leaves in doubt timing of a joint mission to Mars with the European Space Agency.
Space

By Graham Warwick
As it completes assembly of three Radarsats for Canada, Winnipeg-based Magellan looks to enter the commercial satellite market.
Space

By Sean Broderick
Engineering trumps throughput as seat-makers’ biggest obstacle in the years ahead.
Air Transport

By Jens Flottau, Guy Norris, Adrian Schofield
Airlines have attempted ultra-long-haul flying in the past, but more capable aircraft coupled with a reduction in fuel prices make this go-round seem more achievable.
Air Transport

Kerry Reals
Airlines explore ways to fit in more seats without squeezing passengers too much.
Air Transport

By Bradley Perrett
Would Lockheed’s C-130J equipped with retracting floats provide the U.S. military with an amphibian answer to China’s Avic TA600 long-range flying boat?
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Production technology has advanced over the 15 years the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been in development. Now those advances are helping reduce the fighter’s cost.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Icephobic rubber; nanopowder lasers; sonic-boom data probe; Congress advances delivery UAS; industry wants FVL insight.
Air Transport

By Joe Anselmo
JPL Director Charles Elachi has spent “a lifetime dedicated to gaining a better understanding of the Solar System."
Air Transport