After taking off on July 11 in Arizona, the Zephyr S unmanned aircraft from Airbus Defence and Space logged a maiden flight of over 25 days – the longest-duration flight ever made without refueling.
Boeing and SparkCognition are collaborating on unmanned aircraft system (UAS) traffic management (UTM) solutions that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies to track unmanned air vehicles in flight and allocate traffic corridors and routes to ensure safe, secure transportation.
The imagining system, or Pilotage Distributed Aperture Sensor (PDAS) system, is designed to enhance situational awareness and threat detection for pilots and auxiliary personnel in visually degraded environments.
Continental Aerospace Technologies is partnering with Diamond Aircraft Industries GmbH of Austria to provide a new powerplant for the DA50 general aviation aircraft. Continental also recently expanded its portfolio with a “cash and in-kind contribution” investment in Ampaire Inc., an electric aircraft and propulsion company.
“We originally thought solar cells would be standard on the airplane’s wings,” says George E. Bye, founder and CEO of Bye Aerospace Bye. “However, with eFlyer’s primary markets being flight training and air taxi services, it makes more sense to make the price of the airplane as reasonable as possible.”
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.
Airbus SE is shifting its Connected Experience cabin concept into the first stages of reality with cooperative buy-in from gategroup Holding AG, Stelia Aerospace, and Recaro Aircraft Seating. Up until the partnership announcement, Airbus had been collecting extensive market feedback and refining its Internet of Things (IoT) approach to aircraft interiors, with real-time interconnected galleys, in-flight service carts, seats, and overhead bins.
Engineers at Martin UAV are incorporating Wave Relay mobile ad hoc network (MANET) technology from Persistent Systems into the company’s V-BAT small, vertical takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
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.
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.
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 remotely piloted aircraft, or drone, made history as it landed at the RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England yesterday. It is the first medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) RPA to successfully complete a trans-Atlantic flight.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company is bringing its four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft to the fire fight with the LM-100J FireHerc, introduced at Farnborough International Airshow. The LM-100J FireHerc is a civil-certified firefighting airtanker variant of the company’s C-130J Super Hercules airlifter.
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.
According to the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Moscow-based United Aviation Corporation (UAC) will begin development on a supersonic passenger aircraft by 2022. The aircraft, backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be based on the supersonic Tupolev Tu-160 heavy strategic bomber which first flew in 1981.
Airbus SE and the University of Nottingham have partnered with Air Race E to establish the world’s first electric airplane race. The competition, which aims to drive the development and adoption of cleaner, faster, and more technologically advanced electric engines, will follow a format similar to the popular Air Race 1 series of the sport known as “Formula One Air Racing.”
Officials at GE Aviation and Teradata are expanding their partnership to provide airlines with a framework that combines Teradata’s high-performance analytics in the cloud from with GE Aviation’s edge-connectivity services. Markets and Markets Research estimates the aviation analytics market is a $2.16 billion industry that will grow to an estimated $4.23 billion by 2021.
Rolls-Royce in London is unveiling a concept electric vertical take-off and landing (EVTOL) vehicle, including civil and military variants, that could take to the skies as soon as the early 2020s. The flexible design – able to be adapted for a variety of applications, including personal transport, public transport, logistics, and defense – is based upon technologies currently in use and under development.
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.