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Hundreds of aerospace executives, engineers, scientists, and academics are gathering in London this week for Aerospace Systems and Technology Conference (ASTC) 2018 from SAE International in Warrendale, Pennsylvania. Discussions during the three-day industry event center on the theme of innovating air mobility. Aerospace thought leaders are at ASTC discussing current challenges, the latest enabling technologies, and future opportunities, including those related to urban air mobility (UAM) and supersonic aircraft.

The autonomous software and hardware, which was installed on an optionally piloted helicopter, executed various scenarios including automated takeoff and landing, LIDAR- and camera-based obstacle avoidance, LIDAR-based automatic landing zone selection, and low-level contour flying.

Specialists at Kazan Helicopters have completed testing of an Ansat light helicopter equipped with a ditching system or emergency flotation system. The Ansat’s ditching system is designed to save passengers and crewmembers in case of an emergency water landing.

Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is taking off in aerospace engineering and systems integration workflows worldwide. Editors in SAE International’s Aerospace Product Group had the opportunity to discuss MBSE trends, tools, and benefits, as well as any impediments to adoption and whether MBSE is likely to transform aerospace systems engineering and integration with Dave Shanley, vice president of segment & product marketing management at Jama Software in Portland, Oregon.

With an initial focus on critical fight management systems, the committee will evaluate applications for AI usage in aviation and aerospace and will propose standards to support implementation and certification

The meeting will include updates from members of the Composite Materials Handbook Substantiation of Bonded Repairs (SoBR) working group who have been continuing development of SAE International Commercial Aircraft Composite Repair Committee standardization efforts.

Sikorsky tested a new full-authority, fly-by-wire flight control technology kit for the first time on a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk medium-lift utility helicopter. The flight marked the beginning of the flight test program for the soon-to-be optionally piloted rotorcraft.

When a four-alarm fire started burning at a Santa Clara, California construction site down the street from Impossible Aerospace Corporation, the startup sent one of its US-1 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone equipped with thermal and optical sensors to help ground crews battle the blaze.

Lockheed Martin Corporation has released the latest version of RELY3D, its advanced visualization and training tool for sensor system maintainers working on the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.

The Rapid Aerial Extraction System (RAES) pod is a self-contained device that can attach to an ordnance pylon on any fixed-wing aircraft and enable it to provide vertical lift recovery capability like that of a helicopter.

A cowling, or engine cover, is a critical airframe component that reduces drag and directing airflow into the engine. For the E-8C JSTARS, an aircraft with four massive Pratt and Whitney JT3D-based TF33-102C turbofan engines, each set of engine cowling components can cost up to $80,000 per set. Even a slightly warped cowling renders the entire housing unsafe and unserviceable.

Lockheed Martin Corporation successfully completed development and testing for the heatshield that will protect NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mars 2020 rover during its descent to the Martian surface. After completing the flight hardware structure, Lockheed Martin tested the heatshield’s physical integrity by exposing it to ‘flight-like’ thermal conditions.

The first Airbus BelugaXL has rolled out of the paint shop, sporting a special, beluga whale-inspired livery selected by Airbus employees.

The ability to control unmanned systems from the cockpit of a manned tactical aircraft is coming closer to reality. Textron Systems and Textron Aviation have demonstrated manned-unmanned teaming – specifically the command and control (C2) of multiple unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commonly referred to as drones, from a single manned military aircraft.

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.

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.

Jun 13, 2018 - The Aerospace Material Specification committee on Additive Manufacturing (AMS-AM) at SAE International in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, has released its first suite of Aerospace Material Specifications (AMS) additive manufacturing materials and process specifications. The new aerospace technical standards, now available from SAE, support the certification of critical aircraft and spacecraft parts, providing both a framework to protect the integrity of material property data and traceability within the aerospace supply chain.

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.

The 3D printing materials market will experience high double-digit growth in the aerospace industry through 2024, as manufacturers of aircraft and spacecraft vehicles and components increasingly adopt and reap the benefits of additive manufacturing, market analysts at Frost & Sullivan in Mountain View, California, predict.

Engineers from the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL’s) Manufacturing Technologies Division successfully demonstrated the capabilities of a new multi-purpose maintenance and manufacturing robot at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.