Aviation Week & Space Technology

By Jen DiMascio
Navy tweaks littoral combat ship, NASA environmental missions may face more scrutiny, media experiments with UAVs and Ashton Carter returns to the Pentagon.
Aviation Week & Space Technology

*EADS was renamed Airbus Group in January 2014 Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Defense

Marcia Smith
Can NASA avoid the mistakes of the past or will it finally avoid funding costly diversions to human space exploration?

By Irene Klotz
ULA expects its first—and possibly only—Orbital Sciences Cygnus capsule to arrive in Florida late this summer for a launch targeted for the last quarter of the year. Orbital Sciences has an option for a second flight in 2016.
Space

The three-year, $916 million SMAP mission will give weather forecasters in agricultural regions an early warning signal for drought and allow better near-term flood warnings.
Space

Senior Avionics & Safety Editor John Croft looks at the airliner flight deck of the future, which might feature one seat in the cockpit for a captain and one on the ground, occupied by a “super dispatcher” or first officer.
Air Transport

Senior Avionics & Safety Editor John Croft looks at the airliner flight deck of the future, which might feature one seat in the cockpit for a captain and one on the ground, occupied by a “super dispatcher” or first officer.

By Henry Canaday
Diverse customs and regulatory procedures, small fleet sizes create challenges for Latin American MRO providers, despite steady growth of local carriers.
MRO

Transaero Airlines faces an uphill battle to survive as it grapples with myriad problems that encompass everything from political unrest, plunging oil prices and management missteps.
Air Transport

Finally back on strong financial footing, Air Canada plans to spend the next several years regaining the international share it lost in the past decade as it battled key labor unions, dealt with high airport costs and weathered delivery delays for important new aircraft.
Air Transport

Despite its failure to thwart NASA’s selection of Boeing and SpaceX for commercial crew vehicles, Sierra Nevada will proceed with development of Dream Chaser.
Space

By Angus Batey
After canceling the Euro Hawk program in 2013 because of concerns about the UAV’s ability to fly in civil airspace, Germany may instead use a related Northrop Grumman platform, the MQ-4C Triton, as an airborne signals intelligence gatherer.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
South Korea’s LCH-LAH civil-military helo program to decide between Airbus and AgustaWestland offerings.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
NASA is moving quickly to develop a system to enable safe and efficient operation of civil unmanned aircraft systems at low altitudes outside controlled airspace.
Air Transport

Same Sad Story? Most pilots and engineers I know are second-guessing what took place in those finals minutes of the doomed AirAsia Flight 8501. Apparently an experienced pilot—faced with myriad extraneous and misleading data—had only a few seconds to draw from his experience and knowledge to effect a recovery.

Rather than trying to develop new systems, Boeing and Airbus are finding ways to combine existing capabilities to improve ATM operations.

In an effort to address potential pilot shortages in the future, NASA is conducting research on the operating concepts and ground stations that would be needed for single-pilot airliners.
Aerospace

With NASA’s help, air traffic controllers in the future will “team” with their computer systems to safely and efficiently manage highly automated passenger aircraft that dynamically collaborate with the ATM system to optimize routing, capacity and fuel savings.
Air Transport

Ivan M. Rosenberg and Barry Pogorel
Without integrity—people making and keeping promises—any initiative is bound to fail.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Reduced uncertainty about weight keeps long-span, low-drag wing in the running for fuel-saving airliner designs.
Aerospace

By Graham Warwick
Meeting aviation and highway safety requirements in one vehicle proves more challenging than designers anticipated.
Aerospace

By Graham Warwick
From the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ SciTech 2015 conference in Orlando: NASA’s new research priorities; unmanned aircraft: unmanned airspace.
Aerospace

By Joe Anselmo, Graham Warwick, Guy Norris
Aviation Week editors Graham Warwick and Guy Norris discuss with Joe Anselmo what the future looks like from the annual American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference.

By Guy Norris
General Electric’s Passport engine is entering the final phases of certification for Bombardier’s Global 7000/8000 long-range business aircraft, the first versions of which are set to enter service next year.
Aerospace