Aircraft & Propulsion

BAE Systems, Boeing and Lockheed Martin have formally expressed interest in supporting Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in the development of Japan’s F-X fighter.

Belgian Air Force officials have been flight testing Diamond’s DART-550 turboprop trainer as a potential replacement for its fleet of SIAI-Marchetti SF-260 aircraft.

Boeing has delivered fuselage sections for the UK Royal Air Force’s first two E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning platforms.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) wants to move some employees from its suspended SpaceJet program to defense activities, as part of a wider intention to apply skills from the civil aeronautics business to the rest of the group.

The U.S. naval aviation community is conducting a study on how to toughen existing rotary-wing and tiltrotor aircraft for combat post-2030.

Japan has selected Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to commence development of the F-X fighter, making the company responsible for the complete aircraft, including propulsion.

At the time the picture was taken in daylight hours, the unknown aircraft was flying above California City in a racetrack pattern at an estimated altitude of 20,000 ft.

Bell is looking to technology from its Model 360 Invictus as a potential template for a medium-size single-engine utility platform.

History suggests it takes as long to develop a military medium rotorcraft as for a fighter, so NATO countries have taken the first steps.

Both aircraft will be delivered to Japan by June 30, 2023, joining two previously ordered KC-46As.

If fielded, the capability could transform the C-17 and C-130 fleets into two of the U.S. Air Force’s most powerful standoff bombers, with the C-17 alone offering one-third more firepower at long range than the 24 JASSM-ER missile capacity inside a Boeing B-1B weapons bays.

What’s next for U.S. Air Force tankers; Ecuador receives H145s; continued F-35 delays; and unmanned teaming for Wildcat.

Italy is to purchase an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform based on the Gulfstream G550, defense planning documents have revealed.

Raytheon Technologies expects to end 2020 with $10 billion in cash on hand, in part thanks to a new deal to sell its Forcepoint cybersecurity business, but also due to 20% fewer commercial aerospace employees, executives said Oct. 27.

The head of the U.S. Air Force’s mobility aircraft fleet has outlined a series of future aircraft programs that will come online after the KC-46A Pegasus.

Ecuador’s Air Force has begun receiving new H145 twin-engine light helicopters from Airbus.

The JSE creates a synthetic world that allows operational testers to gauge the F-35’s performance in theater-level scenarios. JSE testing is delayed from December to some time in 2021.

British unmanned technologies firm Blue Bear Systems has demonstrated the swarming of 20 unmanned air systems of different types in a beyond-visual-line-of-sight flight.

Leonardo has demonstrated a manned-unmanned teaming using its AW159 Wildcat utility helicopter.

Leonardo has delivered the last Eurofighter Typhoon to the Italian Air Force.

Taiwan cleared for missile sales; Bell starts attack helo parts production; Telesat, Lockheed team on SDA; more money for military intel.

BAE Systems has received a contract with a $400 million ceiling to join a pool of 14 companies that are competing to develop a digital design for the Skyborg unmanned air vehicle (UAV) for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

Boeing has begun taxi tests with its Airpower Teaming System (ATS) in Australia, around five months after the loyal wingman drone was rolled out.

A detailed look at defense investments under a Trump or Biden administration.

NASA has finished the second, final phase of an assessment of how pilots breathe while flying a high-performance fighter.