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Maintainers design a $400 maintenance fixture to save the U.S. Air Force $500k per year

2019-04-30
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.
Article

NASA budget amendment to help send Americans to moon by 2024, then Mars

2019-05-15
An amended NASA budget for fiscal year 2020 would add $1.6 billion to a $21 billion initial budget request and fund deep space exploration, science, and technology initiatives. An acquisition approach to various projects would present significant opportunities for commercial partners and, likely, the entire aerospace supply chain.
Article

Air Force facility dedicated to AI and automation opens in Pittsburgh

2019-04-30
The new Advanced Technology and Training Center (ATTC), which opened yesterday after a ribbon-cutting ceremony, will focus on breakthroughs in condition-based maintenance and the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and automation within that domain.
Article

The Bell V-280 Valor will be engined by Rolls-Royce

2019-05-07
Bell Helicopter will partner with Rolls-Royce to develop an optimized propulsion system for the Bell V-280 Valor and unmanned V-247 Vigilant vertical lift tiltrotor aircraft – the company’s candidate platforms for the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program.
Article

The Air Force’s new unmanned wingmate completes inaugural flight

2019-03-20
The long-range, “high subsonic” aircraft is part of AFRL’s Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology (LCAAT) portfolio, which was established to break the escalating cost trajectory of tactically relevant aircraft and provide an unmanned escort or wingmate aircraft for Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting II and Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
Article

Sikorsky-Boeing’s FVL contender takes flight

2019-03-25
The Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 Defiant (stylized as “SB>1 DEFIANT”) compound helicopter flew for the first time at Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach, Florida facility. Unlike current rotorcraft, the SB-1 Defiant’s propulsion system includes a rear-mounted pusher propulsor in addition to two coaxial main rotors. This unique setup allows the Defiant to reach speeds and a service range far beyond that of modern helicopters.
Article

Air Force tests fully autonomous UAS control system

2019-03-12
The United States Air Force’s 412th Test Wing’s Emerging Technologies (ET) Combined Test Force (CTF) completed the first flight test of Johns Hopkins University’s Testing of Autonomy in Complex Environments (TACE) system. As “middleware,” TACE serves as an “autonomy watchdog,” monitoring commands sent to an aircraft’s autopilot software from its autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) computer and transmitting autopilot information such as position, speed, and orientation back to the AI.
Article

Raytheon looks to upgrade carrier landing system for ground use

2019-03-07
The Raytheon Company (Raytheon), based out of Waltham, Massachusetts, is currently paying for a Joint Precision Approach and Landing Systems (JPALS) software upgrade with independent research and development funds. The company hopes to convince the U.S. Air Force to use JPALS – a system used to help aircraft land on aircraft carrier decks – in its expeditionary land operations.
Article

Collins Aerospace brings next gen avionics to Portuguese C-130s

2019-02-28
The aging Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport platform is used by numerous countries for military and government logistics. The aircraft first flew in 1954, and in order to stay relevant, Collins Aerospace has developed a Flight2 aftermarket avionic solution to upgrade communications, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management (CNS/ATM) capabilities. Collins’ latest customer, the Portuguese Air Force, will use Flight2 to upgrade avionics and enable their fleet of C-130H aircraft to communicate in next generation airspace.
Article

Curtiss-Wright black boxes receive European approval

2019-02-19
Curtiss-Wright Corporation’s Fortress line of combined cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) and flight data recorders (FDRs) are now have European Technical Standard Order (ETSO) approval. The devices, commonly referred to as “black boxes,” will surpass the requirements of an upcoming 2021 European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) mandate that requires CVRs are capable of recording for up to 25 hours per flight.
Article

OA-X phase two kicks off

2018-05-08
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.
Article

General Atomics moves towards global RPA flight certification for MQ-9B SkyGuardian

2019-04-10
A General Atomics Aeronautical System, Inc. (GA-ASI) MQ-9B SkyGuardian remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) was controlled – from takeoff to landing – by an operator using a GA-ASI certifiable ground control station (CGCS), marking the first time a CGCS was used to control an end-to-end flight and the first step in type-certifying the unit.
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