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General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. is using an integrated fuel tank structure to maximize fuel offload for the company’s proposed MQ-25 design for the U.S. Navy. The Navy plans to deploy one of three potential MQ-25 designs by the early- to mid-2020s.

Connected aircraft means more than just in-flight movies, free texting, and Facebook posting with friends while in flight. In fact, the connected aircraft revolutionizes airline operations, dramatically improving fleet management, flight safety, passenger experience, maintenance, flight operations, aircraft turnaround time, and costs. For aircraft operators, connectivity presents a new set of operational benefits that were previously unavailable.

AeroVironment revealed its critical role in collaborating with NASA JPL to build the “Mars Helicopter” for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. Program officials plan to have the Mars Helicopter flying on Mars in less than three years.

Standards development teams at SAE International in Warrendale, Pa., have issued 11 new technical documents and revised or reaffirmed another 54 technical reports focused on mobility engineering across the aerospace, automotive, and commercial transportation communities. The new documents, issued throughout June 2018, cover a variety of technical subject areas, including: diagnostic link connector security, mitigation strategies against illumination effects, data dictionary for quantities used in cyber physical exams, requirements for production of metal powder feedstock for use in additive manufacturing of aerospace parts, and laser powder bed fusion process.

Officials and engineers at Boeing in Seattle are offering a glimpse into their vision for hypersonic air travel. They have released, for the first time, images of one of the company’s hypersonic air vehicle concepts for potential military and commercial passenger transport.

GA-ASI plans to make the first-ever, trans-Atlantic flight of a MALE RPA with its company-owned MQ-9B SkyGuardian/MQ-9 Reaper from Grand Forks, N.D., to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England.

The Global 7500 business jet from Bombardier Inc. in Montreal appears to be on the fast track to entering service, thanks in large part to high-tech engineering design, simulation, and test tools. Bombardier engineers and officials are crediting the program’s extensive use of proven engineering tools, digital simulation, innovative ground testing systems for helping to ensure: a mature aircraft at the start of flight testing, an efficient flight validation program, test aircraft that exceed original performance goals, and completion of one lifetime of simulated flights, which exceeds the requirements at time of certification.

Astro Aerospace is partnering with carbon composite manufacturer Paterson Composites i to build components for its new, state-of-the-art, autonomous aerial transport vehicle, the Astro Aerospace Passenger Drone.

Aerospace systems, subsystems, and components must continue to operate as intended when exposed to fire, rather than going up in flames and ceasing to work altogether. Fire and flammability testing is an all-important prerequisite to airworthiness, and the focus of a new technical standards committee that SAE International in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, is forming in response to a request from Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials in Washington.

U.S. Coast Guard officials are expanding their deployment of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations, after achieving a record-breaking year for drug interdiction using Insitu’s ScanEagle sUAS aboard a single National Security Cutter, the Stratton.

Even at the early stages of this new era of urban air mobility, there is already a scramble amongst well-known aerospace giants, as well as start-ups, to develop and evaluate the civil VTOL market. And this all starts with air-taxi concepts.

Last week, Aurora Flight Sciences’s Autonomous Aerial Cargo Utility System (AACUS) achieved a major operational milestone when it successfully delivered cargo to US Marines in the Integrated Training Exercise at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in California.

Test pilots began flying the Sierra Nevada-Embraer A-29 Super Tucano and Textron Aviation AT-6B Wolverine, kicking off phase two of the USAF Light Attack Experiment.

Under the OFFSET program, BBN Technologies (a subsidiary of Raytheon) is developing direct and control solutions for swarms of small, autonomous air, and ground vehicles.

Last month, AeroVironment, Inc. began accepting orders for their new Puma 3 UAS. As an “all environment” UAS, Pumas have operated effectively in some of the harshest climates on Earth.

LiquidPiston Inc. has developed a new engine that can run on multiple fuels, including diesel, jet fuel, and gasoline. This platform uses an optimized thermodynamic cycle and a new rotary engine architecture and could increases flight endurance over conventional UAV engines by greater than 50%.

skyguide joins forces with AirMap to develop and deploy Europe’s premier national drone traffic management system. The endeavor will be the first national deployment of Europe’s vision for the digital infrastructure to support safe and secure access to European skies for millions of UAVs, in an effort called U-space.

Lockheed Martin’s VCSi software can simultaneously control multiple UAV types, operating anywhere on Earth.

Equipment developers are moving quickly to ensure that military users will have long-term access to boards and modules that provide higher performance, easy replacement, and reduced costs. Board and system designers adopting new technologies are standardizing interconnection layouts to ensure that boards designed by various suppliers can be used to upgrade systems as technology advances.