China

By Graham Warwick
China’s Muyutian Aviation Technology, also known as MuYu Sky, has completed a payload test flight with its AT1300 hybrid-electric VTOL uncrewed cargo aircraft.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Chen Chuanren
Chinese airlines have reportedly canceled all scheduled services on 49 routes to Japan this February as tensions between the countries continue to simmer.
Airports & Networks

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. defense industrial base needs a mobilization akin to the heights of the world wars and the Cold War, according to the Pentagon’s new strategy.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Matthew Fulco
The U.S. Commerce Department will invest $1.6 billion in Oklahoma-based USA Rare Earth and take a 10% stake in the firm.
Supply Chain

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Matthew Fulco
Crucial for defense and scarce due to China’s export controls, samarium was recently named the most vulnerable critical mineral by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Supply Chain

By Chen Chuanren
China’s international flight volumes remain at around 90% of pre-pandemic levels, despite a 22.1% year-on-year increase in RPK, according to CAAC data.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Matthew Fulco
The hedge fund Elliott Investment Management has made a “significant” investment in hypersonic flight company Stratolaunch.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Graham Warwick
The long saga of XTI Aerospace’s effort to develop a ducted-fan vertical-takeoff-and-landing business aircraft has taken a dramatic turn.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Chen Chuanren
Two Chinese rockets—CASC's Long March 3B and private launch provider Galactic Energy's Ceres 2—failed in launch attempts on Jan. 17.
Operations & Safety

Aviation Week Staff
Latest MRO news and contracts from around the world.
Supply Chain

By Garrett Reim
Recently unveiled plans by several Chinese companies to launch more than 200,000 collectively represent “nothing untoward,” says an editorial in China Daily.
Satellites

By Chen Chuanren
Chinese airlines are set to add about 600 additional flights between China and Singapore over the Lunar New Year period, double the increase seen in 2025.
Airports & Networks

By Vivienne Machi
Following a banner year of satellite launches and two reusable launch attempts, China appears poised to demonstrate more cutting-edge tech on orbit in 2026.
Budget, Policy & Regulation

By Craig Caffrey
The day that China will outspend the rest of Asia on defense has slipped into the 2030s. Here’s why.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Chen Chuanren
Chinese academics are calling the government to take a more proactive role in SAF adoption, including embedding mandates in China’s next Five-Year Plan.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Chen Chuanren
The need to refresh and bolster air forces in Southeast Asia outpaces the urgency for action.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Chen Chuanren
Comac handed over 15 C919s to Chinese state-owned airlines during 2025.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Robert Wall
China’s CAS Space says it has completed the first suborbital test flight of its Li Hong-1 reentry capsule, containing microgravity experiments.
Launch Vehicles & Propulsion

By Chen Chuanren
China conducted the first flight of a domestically developed 3D-printed turbojet engine in November 2025.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Chen Chuanren
Norinco subsidiary Aisheng Technology Group has carried out the first flight of the Tian Ma TM-1000 large cargo UAS on Jan. 11.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
The holy grail of the first all-solid-state battery in a production vehicle for delivery to customers is being claimed by small Finnish company Donut Lab.
Advanced Air Mobility

By David Casey
The deterioration in China-Japan relations is increasingly evident not only in diplomatic rhetoric and trade measures, but in a rapidly shrinking air corridor that had only recently recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
Airports & Networks

By Chen Chuanren
Aisheng Technology Group, a subsidiary of China’s state-owned arms producer Norinco, has conducted the first flight of the Lingque “Magpie” LQ-150 VTOL UAS.
Aircraft & Propulsion

Aviation Week Staff
Readers write about U.S.-China space cooperation, U.S. Air Force airlifters, opinions and China’s plans for Taiwan.
Aviation Week & Space Technology