Few ideas in aerospace have been tried and have failed as often as high-speed vertical-takeoff-and-landing but, undeterred by the scores of past dead ends, the U.S. military is trying again.
Under development for four years, Advanced Aircraft Company's multi-rotor HAMR can fly for up to 3.5 hr. or carry a maximum sensor payload of 6 lb. in its dual cargo bay.
A technology being developed to rapidly join thermoplastic and thermoset composites to create optimized lightweight structures for cars and motorcycles is being adapted to aerospace with an eye to enabling high-rate, high-quality production of urban air mobility vehicles.
China private rocket company Deep Blue Aerospace has successfully conducted the country’s first vertical takeoff/vertical landing trial of the Nebula-M reusable rocket after a series of ignition tests in late July.
Delivery drone developer Volansi has completed the first autonomous unmanned air system (UAS) maritime cargo delivery between two moving U.S. government ships.
Customcells will industrialize battery cells for mass production, a key step in Lilium’s plans to scale-up production capacity ahead of the aircraft’s planned commercial launch in 2024.
In a key step towards development of the planned follow-on seven-seater air taxi, Samad Aerospace has completed hover tests of its half-scale e-Starling all-electric prototype aircraft.
Electra.aero was founded on the premise that ultrashort-takeoff regional aircraft enabled by distributed electric propulsion would fly more payload longer distances than vertical-takeoff vehicles while still being able to operate from a similarly constrained urban footprint.
The California-based electric air taxi developer has marked a key flight test milestone by flying a full-size S4 prototype to its design range of more than 150 mi. on a single charge.
Rolls-Royce's Power Generation System 1 (PGS1) demonstrator is designed to pave the way for future hybrid-electric regional propulsion system development.
Beam Global, a manufacturer of solar-powered charging stations for the automotive market, has flown an electric-powered light aircraft between five airports in California to demonstrate the potential for zero-emission aviation.
Having started out with the vision of personal flying using a wearable jet pack, the eponymous JetPack Aviation has shifted its focus to a single-seat vehicle that the startup hopes will form the basis for a range of vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft for special missions.
Airbus has joined Canada’s SAF+ Consortium, which plans to build in Montreal the first power-to-liquids plant to produce sustainable aviation fuel from renewable electricity and captured carbon dioxide.
Eviation aircraft has redesigned its Alice nine-passenger electric regional aircraft, dispensing with some of the original design’s most noteworthy features.
Russian researchers have completed three years of study into a small single-person electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicle for multiple missions.
Collins Aerospace has begun building a 500-kW electric motor that will power Hybrid Air Vehicles’ planned hybrid-electric Airlander 10 heavy-lift airship.
Hydrogen propulsion startup ZeroAvia has secured two Dornier 228s for use as test aircraft for development of its 600-kW fuel-cell propulsion system for 19-passenger airliners.
In an exclusive interview with Aviation Week, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun commented on a variety of strategic initiatives, including advanced air mobility. “Wisk is probably the highest on our list as a program I want to do and double down on,” Calhoun says. “It’s electric. It displaces an incredibly inefficient market on urban mobility. Its real big win is noise—this virtually takes noise out of the equation.
