Aviation Week & Space Technology

Short-term thinking seems to have become the strategy of choice for many publicly traded companies.

“The deal highlights another exit by private equity of a multiyear defense services investment,” says analyst Byron Callan of Capital Alpha Partners.

Common modules with digital beam-forming will reduce development expense and timescale, increase capability and flexibility for AESA radars and jammers.

Under pressure from slower-than-expected F-35 fielding, USAF is embarking on a pricey upgrade to keep the F-15 relevant into the 2040s.

Marine leaders believe that their JSF will be a war-winner. They should be given a chance to show how their plans will work.

April 7—Aerospace Additive Manufacturing Briefing. Palos Verdes, California. See www.infocastinc.com/events/add-aero April 8—Aircraft Electronics

April 14-16—MRO Americas, Miami. June 17—Commercial Aerospace Manufacturing Briefing, France. Oct. 13-15—MRO Europe, London. Nov. 3-5—MRO Asia

The tremendous margin of technological superiority that the U.S. has typically enjoyed since end of World War II is eroding.

NanoRacks is planning a commercial airlock on ISS to ease traffic crunch in Japanese module.

Established satellite service players have largely welcomed Silicon Valley’s sudden interest in the space sector—including some fleet operators who see the potential to collaborate with new LEO networks.

Silicon Valley’s renewed interest in space-based global connectivity offers opportunities.

Led by Airbus Defense and Space and Surrey Satellite Technology, the Ku-band Eutelsat Quantum satellite will allow coverage areas to be redefined via software uploads in response to shifting service demand.

Even cross shareholdings of 30% and 18% have failed to meld Air China and Cathay Pacific into anything like an integrated group

Virgin has broadened its competitive scope by acquiring low-cost and regional carriers.

The lack of airline consolidation in Europe is fairly remarkable given that, unlike elsewhere in the world, a large part of the industry is actually up for sale.

Solar-powered round-the-world attempt seeks to inspire enthusiasm for renewable energy and innovation in sustainable technology, but can it have any impact on aviation?

Aimed at providing the equivalent of 2% fuel-burn savings in baseline performance, the rolling upgrade effort will also include a series of optional product improvements to push the total potential fuel-burn savings on a per-seat basis to as much as 5% over the current 777-300ER by late 2016.

Truck-stopping laser; Lockheed backs Rocket Lab smallsat booster; quantum radar entangles microwaves and optics; CMCs feel the heat in GE engine tests; Kalashnikov buys into Russian UAV maker, and other unmanned news.

Enabling unmanned aircraft to ‘speak’ to ATC and land automatically in emergencies could help UAS fly safely in civil airspace.

German researchers show compressed air can reduce annoying rotor-stator noise in an advanced turbofan engine.

An uprated engine and other enhancements to the Falcon 9 rocket will give SpaceX the ability to continue lifting commercial satellites to GEO while testing reusability of the launcher’s core stage. But it could require additional efforts to certify the vehicle for government missions.

Aviation Week editors discuss the news from HeliExpo this week including Bristow's tiltrotor bet, Airbus Helicopters's H160 unveiling and more.

CEOs are often unprepared for their myriad challenges. Pressure to consolidate across borders could ratchet up the pressure.

Lawmakers consider removing ATC and modernization from FAA’s list of duties; Pentagon to guard nuclear weapons dollars; and an incoming chairman vows to continue blocking Chinese space cooperation.

U.S. Air Force Space Command took nearly a month to openly acknowledge to the press that one of the country’s oldest satellites fragmented into 43 pieces in orbit last month, creating a debris field.