U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

The agency’s Lift Challenge aims for at least a fourfold increase in drone payload-to-weight capability.

X-plane escapes cancellation; China’s hybrid powertrains; Modular cargo UAV, India’s indigenous aircraft.

Aurora Flight Sciences is to co-invest with DARPA in completion and initial flight testing of the X-65 active flow control demonstrator.

DARPA wants to restart the clock on drone development and "revolutionize vertical lift aviation.”

Voyager Technologies is continuing its acquisition spree with a U.S. propulsion focus, announcing Nov. 20 it is buying Estes Energetics.

Redwire has received $44 million from DARPA to build the Otter very low Earth orbit (VLEO) spacecraft.

A DARPA award to Space Kinetic Corp. is advancing space-based missile defense through the development of the Longbow system.

A U.S. startup has adapted technology enabling airborne wind energy generation to develop a tethered drone.

DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative is looking at 11 companies, with the goal of achieving a "useful quantum computer" by 2030.

A former employee of Corning faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for economic espionage and 10 years in prison for theft of trade secrets, the Justice Department says.

DARPA has kicked off an effort to detect and track faint objects hundreds of thousands of miles away in cislunar space.

GPS backup on a chip; DARPA heavy-lift drone challenge; Canada funds air mobility projects; and motors for defense drones.

Voyager Technologies has acquired ExoTerra Resources, a Hall-effect propulsion developer, for an undisclosed amount.

DARPA has launched a prize challenge to demonstrate multicopter uncrewed aircraft that can carry payloads more than four times their weight.

As interest grows in rotating detonation engines for hypersonic flight, a startup specialist in the tech says it will receive backing from Lockheed Martin.

Sikorsky has modified an ex-U.S. Army UH-60L Black Hawk into a flight demonstrator for the proposed U-Hawk uncrewed utility aircraft.

Liftoff of New Shepard with six international crewmembers took place under a partly cloudy sky at Launch Site One near Van Horn in West Texas at 9:40 a.m. EDT.

DARPA is developing proactive AI that delivers info without being asked. The program monitors pilots’ cognitive load, providing tailored advice.

DARPA will kick off development of a High-Mach Gas Turbine engine with a 15-month project worth up to $40 million.

Most small UAS are battery powered and limited in flight time—but what about using aerodynamics to boost flight time by soaring the way birds and gliders do?

DARPA is looking ahead to systems that can bring extremely accurate but fragile quantum sensing to the harsh environments onboard military platforms.

GE Aerospace named two new propulsion systems that will be offered to power DARPA’s proposed Next Generation Responsive Strike (NextRS) demonstrator aircraft.

DARPA confirmed plans on Aug. 26 to launch development of a High-Mach Gas Turbine (HMGT) engine.

The U.S. may be losing ground in a global race to develop highly maneuverable spacecraft.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.