Advanced Air Mobility

Attorney General William Barr has issued guidance describing a process by which Department of Justice agencies can seek approval to use counter-drone systems to protect designated assets and facilities from rogue unmanned aircraft.

Nations around the world use small unmanned aircraft systems in a variety of ways to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Unmanned aircraft systems test sites in New York and Virginia will participate in the second phase of a UAS Traffic Management pilot program, the FAA announced on April 10.

Boeing’s ATS powers on; ZeroAvia progresses; Japanese eVTOL flies; LNG personal jet; Morphing wing.

Mistrusted by the federal government but appreciated by municipal authorities, Chinese drone manufacturer DJI is distributing 100 small unmanned aircraft systems to U.S. police, fire and public safety agencies to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Italy has become a hotbed of UAV development, but can Leonardo’s Falco Xplorer find success in a contested marketplace?

Boeing’s Airpower Teaming System unmanned aircraft is on its landing gear and powered up as the loyal wingman demonstrator progresses toward a first flight planned in Australia later this year.

New technologies may be available, but fundamentals that drive avionics design still apply for future air vehicles.

Certifying machine learning; eVTOL safety challenges; supersonic noise standards; UAM precursor shut down.

A series of accidents has underlined that development of safe, robust electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) vehicles will be no easy task.

Airbus is to continue investing in urban air mobility despite shutting down Voom, its on-demand helicopter booking service, citing the impact of the novel coronavirus crisis.

Sensing supercooled icing; Russian electric testbed: deorbiting tether; digitalizing cabin; UPS drone delivery; Lilium eVTOL funding.

NASA has renamed its urban air mobility Grand Challenge the Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign, a seemingly simple name change that signals recognition that industry’s interest is in more than just downtown air transportation.

Solicitation asks manufacturers to supply a drone approved to fly beyond line of sight for transmission line inspections.

The funds “will be used to support further development of the Lilium Jet as well as underpinning preparations for serial production," the Munich-based company says.

Startup Sabrewing Aircraft has postponed the public rollout of its Rhaegal unmanned cargo aircraft because of COVID-19 restrictions, but continues to work toward flying the hybrid-electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) prototype this year.

U.S. Marine Corps joins Air Force’s Agility Prime program to accelerate commercial development of eVTOL air taxis.

ThereCraft cargo UAV; Aeronomie models electrification; TsAGI refines flying wing; EHang teams with Seville; Urban partners with Ascent.

U.S. startup ThereCraft is developing an unmanned aircraft that can deliver urgent cargo to remote locations with the accuracy of a helicopter but without the need to land or use parachutes.

The U.S. Marine Corps has opted to pursue an unmanned family-of-systems instead of having one large expensive air vehicle.

Military drone manufacturer AeroVironment has granted Canadian unmanned aircraft systems company Draganfly distribution responsibility for a commercial drone it unveiled in 2016.

Chinese electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing developer EHang has signed a cooperation agreement with the city government of Seville to launch its first urban air mobility pilot program in Spain.

Safran powers VoltAero; scaling quantum computers; automating dogfighting; eVTOL in Norway; safer batteries; drone delivery bases.

A bigger engine and more powerful tail fan feature in revised design for Vy 400 tiltwing intercity VTOL commuter.

Defense electronics specialist Hensoldt and air traffic management system (ATM) supplier Frequentis have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to increase their collaboration on developing integrated counter-drone systems for airports.