Aircraft & Propulsion

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

Launch customer Lufthansa Airlines has added uncertainty to Boeing’s public claims that the 777-9, already five years late, will be certified in 2025.

The Wichita company pledged to conduct the layoffs “in as compassionate a manner as possible.”

NASA’s long-serving McDonnell Douglas DC-8-72 research aircraft flew for the final time on May 15 after being used on 158 science campaigns.

The company’s turboelectric airliner concept would reduce fuel usage, operating costs and contrails.

The startup’s EL-2 Goldfinch test pilot outlines his flight experience with the demonstrator.

The 787 faces new quality assurance woes, but the need to add a freighter to the family has eased.

A mandate would provide stability and a more even playing field, enabling the aviation industry to cut emissions more quickly.

Comac is reportedly working on preliminary designs of a new twin-aisle airliner dubbed the C939.

A hydrogen fuel-cell-powered helicopter is being eyed for zero-emission delivery of manufactured organs for human transplants.

Plans to replace the three main fleets of mobility aircraft remain decades away, following the production run of the Next Generation Aerial Refueling System.

DLR’s climate-friendly designs; High-power aviation fuel cell; and eVTOL hover test facility.

In a healthy defense industrial ecosystem, companies occupying the middle ground—between the many small companies and a few large ones—perform important systemic roles.

Brazilian helicopter operator Helisul has acquired Chilean counterpart Ecocopter to form one of the largest rotary-wing operators in Latin America.

The last company to take on Airbus and Boeing was crushed, but market conditions could be ripe for another challenger. BofA analyst Ron Epstein joins to discuss what Embraer might do.

What Bertrand Piccard’s new hydrogen-focused Climate Impulse circumnavigating enterprise could mean for Airbus’ ZEROe project.

An IMAX camera recorded astronauts repairing the attitude control system of NASA’s Solar Maximum satellite, which space shuttle Challenger captured for the repair.

The China Aviation Planning and Design Institute says it has won the bid to construct the second phase of the Comac C919 assembly plant in Shanghai.

Former Boeing CEO and Chairman Frank Shrontz, who led the company through key developments ranging from the 747-400 and 777 to the space station, died aged 92.

Developers of turbo- and diesel-electric generators offer flexibility.

Bell has unveiled a fly-by-wire control system-equipped 429 twin-engine light helicopter as the company’s new flying testbed.

Distributed-propulsion testbed flies; Airbus hydrogen APU demo; uncrewed delivery corridor; another Chinese eVTOL; and Wright’s megawatt-scale electric engine.

The goal of HyPower is to demonstrate the stable operation of a fuel cell in flight, including its restart.

Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) has partnered with Pyka to offer the startup’s electric uncrewed cargo aircraft to U.S. Defense Department customers.

Howmet's John Plant, often seen as a shrewd prognosticator of large aircraft manufacturing rates, has slashed his company’s expectations for 737 shipments.