Aviation Week & Space Technology

By Graham Warwick
Shape-adaptive morphing structures could follow the adoption path that have made winglets the rule, rather than the exception, on new aircraft
Aerospace

By Graham Warwick
The planned ramp-up will see more than 250 C Series in service by 2020, when the program is expected to begin generating positive cash flow, and is “balanced, manageable and achievable,” says Bombardier Commercial Aircraft President Fred Cromer.
Air Transport

By Jen DiMascio
Russia sells China Sukhoi fighters and special ops helicopters; Indian army scraps Nishant UAV; manned-unmanned teaming demo in South Korea; U.S. sells three Global Hawks to Japan.
Defense

By Jen DiMascio
From no-fly zones in Syria to the potential return of F-22 production, presidential candidates are talking tougher about defense.
Defense

Ashton Carter’s Defense Innovation Unit, Experimental, is quite small and has no budget to speak of.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
While the Strategic Defense and Security Review published on Nov. 23 appears to be good news, the government’s pledges appear to do little more than paper over gaping cracks in military aircraft capabilities left by previous reviews.
Defense

The small lithium-metal and lithium-ion batteries we use everyday can pose big safety problems on aircraft, especially when carried as bulk cargo. This video shows the intensity of those fires when just a few batteries enter a state known as thermal runaway. FAA engineers at the William J. Hughes Technical Center have quantified the risks and are now testing methods to potentially mitigate them.
Air Transport

By Guy Norris
Pratt & Whitney is poised to realize its decades-long goal of introducing the geared turbofan into commercial service, with certification of the PW1100G-powered Airbus A320neo achieved on November 24, and the PW1500G-powered Bombardier CSeries expected to follow within weeks.
Aerospace

By Jay Menon
The Indian Space Research Organization may propose launching one satellite per month in 2016.
Space

By Guy Norris, Mark Carreau
The test aimed to deploy the six-seat crew capsule into suborbit for a planned 4-min. weightless period, but attention was focused on whether the rocket stage could be successfully recovered using the tricky vertical-powered-landing technique.
Space

By Mark Carreau
Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket will fly again after achieving an intact powered vertical landing of the launch vehicle and parachute recovery of the unpiloted crew capsule to conclude a test flight.
Space

Blue Origin has successfully launched and landed a reusable rocket for the first time. The New Shepard space vehicle flew to just over 329,000 feet before landing safety at its launch site in Texas. Check out Blue Origin's video of the rocket's test flight.
Space

By Graham Warwick
Do we still have a need for speed? Join Aviation Week as we discuss the history and technology of speed and whether, moving into the future, supersonic aircraft are economically feasible.
Air Transport

By Guy Norris
Boeing hopes final fixes to 787 will push reliability rate beyond 99% goal.
Air Transport

By Guy Norris, Adrian Schofield
Air Canada recently told investors that when it switched from the 767 to the 787-8 between Toronto and Tel Aviv, the airline was able to carry 31% more passengers while using 3% less fuel.
Air Transport

By Graham Warwick
Complex or risky tasks in flight testing or training can be simulated in the aircraft using a virtual display in the cockpit.
Aerospace

A formal protest of the Pentagon’s Long-Range Strike Bomber award to Northrop Grumman has to be based on failure to follow rules, but the challengers’ public case goes far beyond that.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
More engine types, more demonstrators planned under Europe’s second, larger public-private research initiative, Clean Sky 2.
Aerospace

By Graham Warwick
Lightweight textile-based approach to blastproofing baggage containers could lead to wider market acceptance of device to protect airliners from terrorist bombs.
Aerospace

By Graham Warwick
Flutter-suppression X-56 crashes; laser IDs target by vibrations; new venture to commercialize morphing structures; Airbus helo R&D in the U.K.; Iceye’s low-cost radar imaging from space.
Aerospace

By Guy Norris
Since launching the Leap program, GE-Snecma joint venture CFM has added more engines to support Airbus, Boeing and Comac, partly to reduce risk as production begins.
Aerospace

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. (ret.) Kelly Latimer (see photo) has been chosen to pilot for Virgin Galactic, based in Mojave, California. Latimer was the first female research test pilot to be hired by NASA’s Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center. Global aerospace components manufacturer Norsk Titanium has appointed Steve Carrington vice president-sales, Tony Prezioso vice president-contracts and Nicholas Mayer vice president-product development.

By Tony Osborne
Romanian production could make Airbus’s Super Puma more competitive against Russia’s Mi-17
Defense

By Guy Norris
General Electric is targeting the general aviation and business turboprop market with an engine using an integrated gas generator and propeller control.
Aerospace

French President Francois Hollande and the National Assembly had set very different defense ministry spending plans before the Nov. 13 Islamic State group attacks in Paris. A robust response is forcing a change in those priorities.
Defense