Aircraft & Propulsion

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

Scaled Composites built the flying-wing UAS under a DARPA project to demonstrate hybrid propulsion.

Australia Selects PteroDynamics P4 For Naval Logistics

Corrosion and spare parts shortages reduce UK F-35 mission rates as officials address engineering gaps and delayed infrastructure plans.

Rafael is proposing to equip UAVs with some of the self-protection equipment more typically associated with combat aircraft.

Elbit wins $34M contract to develop external fuel tanks for Israeli F-35s, boosting range and flexibility for long-range missions.

A recovery plan for the Boeing KC-46 pushes the arrival of the Remote Vision System (RVS) 2.0 upgrade by more than a year.

Norway’s armed forces are experimenting with artificial intelligence to speed up helicopter search and rescue missions.

The UK’s National Police Air Service (NPAS) has been granted funding to buy additional helicopters, in addition to aircraft already on order from Airbus.

The Pentagon’s Drone Dominance program is expanding to include the acquisition of recoverable “bomber” types of uncrewed aircraft systems.

More B-21s, longer service lives for B-2s and B-1s, and a possible new bomber type are now in the mix for the U.S. Air Force’s long-range strike fleet.

New service component operational concepts such as Agile Combat Employment (ACE), Forward Arming and Refueling Points (FARP), and the deployment and sustainment of multi-domain task forces have increased the demands for airlift support.

U.S. Air Force Futures has approved a requirements document for an aircraft that will replace the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. MQ-9A Reaper.

AIRO unveils Jaunt UAS with five-fold range increase, adds ISR variant for military and civil uses and targets delivery by 2027.

British defense startup Rotron Aerospace says it successfully launched and flown its SkyLance one-way effector.

South Korea considers delaying KF-21 Block 2 production to 2035 as rising costs, inflation and supply chain issues impact the program.

GE Aerospace has taken another step toward building the first XA102 adaptive-cycle engine under the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program.

The Pentagon is reducing its reliance on clandestine contractor aircraft as military operations ramp up and new tech is deployed.

MQ-9 Reapers fired BAE Systems precision-guided rockets during a recent demonstration by General Atomics Aeronautics Systems Inc. and the U.S. Air Force.

Canadian training and simulation giant CAE confirmed May 11 it is interested in selling or divesting its aviation software business Flightscape.

The Turkish defense ministry says its Research and Development Center has produced six experimental Guchan fighter engines for the indigenous Kaan fighter.

AIRO Group revealed plans on May 11 to produce the RQ-70 Dainn uncrewed aircraft system as a follow-on to the company’s smaller, hand-launched RQ-35.

RTX’s Collins Aerospace is expanding a facility in Largo, Florida, to accelerate production of radars for the FAA’s air traffic control modernization push.

For more information about Aviation Week Intelligence Network’s (AWIN) 2026 Military Fleet & MRO Forecast and other Aviation Week data products, please see: https://pgs.aviationweek.com/forecast

Pratt & Whitney is advancing parts procurement for the first XA103 adaptive combat test engine after completion of a fully digital assembly readiness review.