U.S. hypersonic aircraft startup Hermeus has closed a $100 million Series B fundraising round, providing the funding to fly its first three Quarterhorse flight-test vehicles and advance design of its planned Darkhorse production aircraft.
By Joe Anselmo, Jens Flottau, Daniel Williams, Ron Epstein
Bank of America’s Ron Epstein joins our experts to assess the industry’s reliance on Russian metals and whether lessors could lose hundreds of aircraft.
Airbus is continuing to build the industrial team for the CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL, partnering with Spirit AeroSystems to design and manufacture the multi-copter’s wings.
Robinson Helicopter says it will switch to electric power for its light helicopters when it “makes sense” and is closely watching progress being made by California-based Tier 1 Engineering on a battery-powered R44 conversion program.
A joint taskforce will assess challenges around green hydrogen regulations, infrastructure and global supply chains, including the production of green hydrogen and the infrastructure needed to support delivery to airports and fuel aircraft.
Boeing is no longer purchasing titanium from Russia, a move that will speed up the company’s push to diversify its supply of the raw material and could affect its partnership with major supplier VSMPO-AVISMA.
BAE Systems will collaborate with Slovenian light aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel to examine potential military training applications for electric aircraft.
Aircraft Industries, the Czech manufacturer of the Let family of turboprop transport aircraft, says in an open letter that its ownership by Russian holding group Ural Mining Metallurgical Company (UGMK) “is likely to change a lot for us as a company, but we ourselves do not know what the consequences will be.”
Boeing has confirmed that recent composite cryogenic tank tests that pave the way for future liquid-hydrogen-fueled aircraft used a reusable tank shell originally built as flight hardware for DARPA’s former Experimental Spaceplane Program.
GKN Aerospace has tested an advanced turbine rear structure (TRS) design which demonstrated a potential weight reduction of up to 14% compared to current commercial engine configurations.
Despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine adding to a panoply of issues facing the aerospace industry, executives from Boeing and Airbus told the Aviation Week Raw Materials and Manufacturers Supply Chain Conference that the OEMs were standing firm on planned airliner production rate ramps.
The U.S. Air Force has repackaged a series of upgrades for 608 Lockheed Martin F-16s into a single modernization program worth $6.3 billion, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center said on March 1.
The aerospace industry has begun to evaluate the consequences of the sanctions the EU is imposing on Russia’s aviation in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
