Aviation Week & Space Technology

Less than two days after India agreed to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets in flyaway condition, India’s defense minister signals plan to abandon larger deal.

Star Wars lasers were intended to hit things that missiles could not touch. The new generation exploits different characteristics.

Despite tensions, U.S. and Russia are still cooperating in civil space. Now it’s time to bring China into the fold.

The company is striving to keep average cost of a new Vulcan rocket under $100 million as it preps for competition against SpaceX.

Asteroid-mission development will shape human/machine teaming for exploration.

Health-monitoring and ‘big data’ could transform maintenance. Airlines are expecting big savings, so MROs better be ready.

Preparations are underway to begin testing a small-sat launcher dubbed Electron that would use the turbomachinery and other innovations to hold the cost per mission below $5 million.

There have been a handful of events that can be linked to pilots intentionally crashing aircraft. But that’s in hundreds of millions of flights since the late 1990s.

Cathay Pacific is well-positioned for rebounding cargo markets, using its Hong Kong hub and new fleet types to improve connectivity and efficiency.

New Hong Kong cargo terminal gives Cathy Pacific greater capacity and improved competitive position in the Asian cargo market

Cathay Pacific is relying on a broad array of strategic advantages to defend itself against LCCs and other competitive threats.

Chinese business jet orders appear to be tracing out the beginnings of a curve that looks like a bathtub.

The U.S. Air Force claims the new LISC deal could save up to $1.8 billion over 10 years, although skeptics question how.

France takes aim at drones over nuclear plants; turbine engine promise more reliable UAVs; how to make software systems last 100 years; Google’s kite captures wind energy; FAA’s commercial UAS approvals accelerate

Unlike GE, Pratt & Whitney using ceramic matrix composites for rotating engine elements rather than static parts

Suppliers join cost-sharing effort on an advanced-rotorcraft demonstration program that is critical to the future health of the U.S. rotary-wing industry.

Ahead of next week's Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, our editors discuss the latest on an American-built engine to send U.S. national security assets to space, competition between ULA and Space X, the state of U.S.-Russian relations and more.

Jaan Albrecht (see photos) has been appointed CEO of Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines joint venture SunExpress, effective June 1. He has been CEO of Lufthansa Group subsidiary Austrian Airlines and was CEO of the Star Alliance. Klaus Froese has been named chief operating officer of the extended executive board of Austrian Airlines and Tyrolean Airways. He was managing director of Lufthansa CityLine.

USAF’s T-X advanced trainer procurement program is the second largest outstanding undetermined aircraft procurement program in the world.

May 4—Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s Unmanned Systems 2015. Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta. See www.auvsi.org/events1/eventdescription/?CalendarEventKey=4b6a54a9-2072-… May 6—American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala. Washington. See www.aiaa.org/gala2015

May 5-6—MRO Baltics, Budapest, Hungary. June 17—Commercial Aerospace Manufacturing Briefing, Paris. Oct. 13-15—MRO Europe, London. Nov. 3-5—MRO Asia, Singapore. Nov. 3-5—Aerospace Defense Chain, Scottsdale, Arizona.

Blue Origin plans to begin autonomous flight tests later this year with the reusable New Shepard suborbital human spacecraft it will power.

Reader requests cost-comparison chart of A-10 vs. other platforms; Germanwings disaster prompts many security suggestions—two different ways to secure cockpit doors are discussed.

FedEx latest acquisition—TNT Expresss expands U.S. freight company’s European footprint

Airpower from across the Middle East deploys to Saudi Arabia to support operations against Houthi rebels in Yemen.