Advanced Air Mobility

Matternet says the U.S.-built M2 quadcopter is approved to begin durability and reliability testing.

Cassio family unveil; Sabrewing rollout; WatFly’s personal eVTOL; Advancing Remote ID; Sniffing out COVID-19.

Elbit Systems has introduced a long-range maritime rescue system for the Hermes 900 unmanned aircraft system ordered by an undisclosed customer in Southeast Asia, the company announced on May 7.

Boeing Australia rolls out first Airpower Teaming System unmanned aircraft.

The Air Force looks to Agility Prime and eVTOLs as a potential model for engaging with commercial technology innovators.

Startup Sabrewing Aircraft is to re-engine its Rhaegal-A turbo-electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing unmanned cargo aircraft with Safran Helicopter Engines’ Ardiden 3 turboshaft before the technology demonstrator’s first flight, planned later this year.

Drone operating system developer Auterion has released the reference design for a new family of unmanned aircraft systems avionics modules and announced GE Aviation as the launch manufacturer of its own high-reliability module for drone operations.

The loyal-wingman program with the Royal Australian Air Force is to culminate in an operational demonstration of Boeing’s ATS.

Agility Prime kicks off; glimpse inside Joby; high-altitude hopes; expanding additive manufacturing; democratizing fly-by-wire.

An early leader in the electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing market, Joby Aviation has been secretive about its progress. But new details emerged during the virtual kickoff event of the U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime program on April 27-May 1.

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

The U.S. Air Force has expanded its interest in emerging electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft to encompass vehicles able to carry one-two people or more than 500 lb. of cargo.

North Carolina seeks to use FAA pilot projects against the coronavirus.

Verizon portfolio company Skyward has added a “Live Flights” feature to its aviation management platform that enables users to monitor drone flights in near real time from their offices or wherever they have internet connectivity.

France has begun the first phase of developing an unmanned aircraft systems traffic management architecture called “Hubspace” that it plans to deploy by 2023 to manage drone traffic nationwide.

The British government has approved trials to use a fixed-wing UAV to fly medical supplies from the UK mainland to the Isle of Wight.

U.S. Air Force eVTOL event; EHang plans E-port; Zipline fights COVID-19; Pipistrel measures DEP noise; Onera tests airship.

The police department of Westport, Connecticut, has decided that it will not test a “pandemic drone” designed to sense symptoms of COVID-19 after the

China’s EHang has partnered with the city of Hezhou in Guangxi province to build the first dedicated vertiport for its autonomous air vehicles.

North American companies involved in building and operating small drones are proposing systems that could potentially be used in battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zipline drones are delivering COVID-19 test samples collected from rural clinics in Ghana to laboratories in the capital Accra and Kumasi, the country’s second-largest city.

Airship in wind tunnel; X-57 ground tests; battery for hybrid-electric demonstrator; next-gen fuel cell; EASA’s drone rules.

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.