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A two-door muscle car prepped for year-round road conditions is the driving influence behind the fully functional Dodge AWD concept.

While the pandemic continues, aerospace companies are rising to embrace new and emerging challenges at a time when there’s so much innovation. This innovation can be seen in the emergence of urban air mobility (UAM), the rebirth of supersonic flight, the drive towards a “zero emission” aircraft, and the continued use of autonomous drones for delivery, freight, search & rescue, and defense. There are exciting new developments in space as companies are developing products for commercial exploration and space tourism, and new ways to launch satellites. A new generation of engineering is also emerging in the defense sector and its development of not only aircraft, but also ships, tankers, and even flight trainers.

US Army officials and engineers continue work to modernize the defense organization’s fleet of Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter with a more modern digital cockpit, conducting a Limited User Test with two prototype aircraft at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. They selected for a Limited User Evaluation (LUE) a Crew Mission Station (CMS) aligned with The Open Group Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) technical standard that combines Core Avionics & Industrial Inc.’s (CoreAVI’s) compositor and graphics suite, Avalex smart display, Intel hardware, Wind River operating system, and Presagis server.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officials have released the first images from two unmanned rovers that landed safely on the surface of asteroid Ryugu just days ago. The compact MINERVA-II1 rovers, Rover-1A and Rover-1B, separated from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft on Sept. 21 at 13:06 Japan Standard Time (JST) and landed on Ryugu with a bounce.

Hundreds of flight simulation experts from aerospace organizations worldwide – including airframe manufacturers, training device manufacturers (TDM), airlines, operators, and suppliers – will convene at RSi Visual Systems in Coppell, Texas, in September for the 2018 Flight Simulator Engineering and Maintenance Conference (FSEMC). Virtual reality (VR), motion cueing, ADS-B, pilot training for NextGen and SESAR, flight simulation training device (FSTD) technology insertion, and the pros and cons of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components top the list of discussion points for the annual conference.

Counterfeit parts prevention is integral to an effective obsolescence management plan, and the focus of anti-counterfeit standards – including Counterfeit Avoidance Standard (AS5553) and Counterfeit Detection Standard (AS6081) – from SAE International in Warrendale, Pa. SAE International officials are bringing the anti-counterfeit discussion and sharing best practices, which include adherence to critical standards, to the Future of Obsolescence Management (FOM) event on October 10 and 11 in Washington.

“Laddering up” of the range of tooling options requires assessing at each plateau whether greater upfront investment in tooling will pay off with a relatively quick return on investment. Since tooling plays such a key role in this equation, it also means working closely with OEMs willing to evaluate the best available tooling options at any time as production requirements increase.

Demand for high-performance plastics (HPPs) is up across the aerospace industry, driven by such key trends as growing performance requirements, increased use of additive manufacturing or 3D printing, supply chain globalization, and tightening environmental regulations. Growing passenger traffic coupled with the need to reduce emissions – being accomplished through lightweighting, engine downsizing, and vehicle electrification – present opportunities for HPPs, research analysts at Frost & Sullivan in San Antonio, Texas, explain.

Officials at SAE International in Warrendale, Pa., and Airlines for America (A4A) in Washington are recognizing Karsten Kaiser of Lufthansa Technik and Michael Ernst of subsidiary 3D.aero for furthering the science and efficacy of nondestructive testing (NDT), having presented them with the 16th annual Nondestructive Testing (NDT) Innovation Award at A4A’s annual NDT Forum last week in Seattle.

Boeing in Everett, Wash., won a $2.9 billion U.S. Air Force contract to deliver 18 additional KC-46A tanker aircraft, spares, support equipment, spare engines, and wing air refueling pod kits. Boeing is now on contract for 52 KC-46 Pegasus military aerial refueling and strategic military transport aircraft, based on the company’s 767 jet airliner, with the addition of this fourth production lot.

Aireon LLC, a global aircraft tracking and surveillance company in McLean, Va., is inviting aircraft operators, regulators, search-and-rescue organizations, and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) to pre-register for Aireon Aircraft Locating and Emergency Response Tracking (ALERT). Aireon ALERT, operated by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), is being touted as the aviation industry’s first and only free, global, real-time emergency aircraft location service, which is slated to begin service in Q1 2019.

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

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).

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.

The Auto-Tracking Antenna System, a new portable, ground-to-air antenna from Persistent Systems LLC in New York, incorporates aircraft into the Wave Relay mobile ad hoc network (MANET) to boost connectivity, communications, and distribution of critical sensor data, including full-motion video, on the networked battlefield. The precisely aimed tracking system works with the MPU5 radio and Wave Relay MANET to optimize connectivity and reliable communications to enable manned and unmanned aircraft to communicate further than ever before, officials say.

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.

Northrop Grumman Corp. has acquired Orbital ATK Inc., one of only two leading U.S. manufacturers of solid rocket motors (SRMs), in exchange for $7.8 billion in cash and assumption of $1.4 billion in debt. Officials have finalized the acquisition and formed Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, the company’s fourth business sector, to enable greater expansion into the space market.

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company (NYSE:LMT), in Stratford, Connecticut, and Boeing Defense, Space & Security (NYSE:BA) in Berkeley, Missouri, are introducing the SB>1 DEFIANT helicopter designed to fly with advanced agility and maneuverability at twice the speed and range of current conventional helicopters. Jointly developed for the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi-Role technology demonstrator program, the new rotorcraft design is intended to help inform the next generation of military helicopters as part of the U.S. Army's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program.

Lidar technologies provide immediate and accurate free-space detection and excellent object detection and localization. As a result, a driver-assistance system designed with a high-performance, forward-looking lidar (FLL) sensor would greatly improve vehicle performance and safety. The third installment of this multipart series provides practical insight into the use of lidar technology as the cornerstone of a real-world advanced driver-assistance system.

The X-59 utilizes a long and slender airframe to achieve supersonic speeds without causing a high decibel sonic boom. The unconventional design precludes the use of a forward-looking window or viewport. Collins Aerospace is providing a dual multi-spectral enhanced vision system to give pilots a forward view of the airspace.