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.
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.
Mobility is in the midst of an electric revolution, propelled by industry innovators such as magniX. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, the magniX team is focused on revolutionizing electric motors for commercial aviation applications.
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.
Aerion Supersonic in Reno, Nevada, and Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix are collaborating on a revolutionary, connected cockpit for the Aerion AS2, regarded as the first supersonic business jet in history.
Today’s airframe manufacturers have taken on more of the role of systems integrators, putting the focus on the aircraft as a system-of-many-systems. Sean Barker, FBCS CEng and a former research scientist at BAE Systems in the UK, approaches aircraft as a system of systems (SoS) from a business process perspective in his new book from SAE International in Warrendale, Pa.
In order to help the next generation of entrepreneurs enter that market, Boulder, Colorado-based Techstars and Paris-based Starburst Aerospace have joined forces to start a new Los Angeles-based business accelerator for space technology companies.
Milwaukee-based Astronautics Corporation of America will update the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency’s Air and Marine Operations fleet of Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion turboprop maritime surveillance aircraft with new primary flight and navigation displays.
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.
To enable the tests required for development work to be performed with maximum efficiency, the Zwick Roell Group (ZwickRoell) – a global supplier of materials testing machines based out of Ulm, Germany – developed a materials testing machine that can be equipped with both a temperature chamber and a high-temperature furnace.
The AS2 industry team – comprising Aerion in Reno, Nevada; Lockheed Martin in Bethesda, Maryland; GE Aviation in Evendale, Ohio; and Honeywell in Morris Plains, New Jersey – has finished the conceptual design phase and launched the preliminary design phase, slated to conclude in June 2020, of the Aerion A2 supersonic business jet.
China will require more than 7,400 new passenger aircraft and freighters, with a total market value of $1,060 billion (U.S.) or $1.06 trillion, through 2037 to meet growing demands for mobility, including passenger and cargo transport, Airbus officials in Toulouse, France, predict. China represents more than 19 percent of the world total demand for more than 37,400 new aircraft over the next 20 years.
Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division in Ashburn, Va., has enhanced its range of Advanced Video Display Units (AVDU) high-resolution, rugged LCD touchscreen displays with new software-configurable capabilities to improve flexibility, usability, and reliability.
The modified Chengdu J-10B was spotted in Zhuhai ahead of a performance at at 2018 China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition. During the Zhuhai exhibition, the aircraft demonstrated the Pugachev’s Cobra maneuver.
Qinqdao Airlines, a Chinese airline startup based out of Qingdao Liuting International Airport, is the latest airline to received aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1000G high-bypass Geared Turbofan engines.
With Orion capsule testing and the ESM delivery milestone complete, NASA two years out from Orion Exploration Mission 1 – the program’s unmanned spacecraft validation mission around the Moon in 2020.
“The future of urban transportation requires close partnership between regulators, cities, authorities, and the private sector. AeroMobil is closely working with cities around the world to establish opportunities to test, develop, and implement routes for safe personal transportation in the sky,” says Jonathan Carrier, vice president of corporate development of AeroMobil in Slovakia.