A couple of crossings were powered by alternative propulsion in 2015: the Pacific by solar and the English Channel by electric. But the big news was some approaching operational debuts from CFM and Pratt&Whitney.

Through partnerships and investments, defense primes and OEMs are increasingly turning the page away from the old playbook of acquiring and subsuming new technology.

Fighter operators and Pentagon acquisition troops are talking past each other. That can’t end well.

From Aegis Ashore to Pakistani nuclear-capable missiles—a look at some of the latest developments on the missile technology and missile defense front.

The six-nation UCAV demonstrator completed an initial phase in November 2015, but will continue flight trials in 2016 and potentially beyond. In a parallel effort, Britain has just completed a third round of flight tests of its Taranis UCAV demonstrator. And a four-nation effort, led by Germany, is to begin designing an unmanned ISR platform in the spring of 2016.

Directed-energy weapons and thermal management will be key, Northrop Grumman executives say.

The Bundewehr mission to support the fight against the so-called Islamic State (IS) began on the night of Dec. 15-16 with the aerial refueling of coalition aircraft. A Luftwaffe Airbus A310 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) based at Incirlik air base in Turkey conducted two refuelings in a mission lasting five hours.

France’s defense ministry will begin work on three new major space-system developments in the coming year, including an international collaboration with Germany in the area of remote sensing and an operational follow-on to the Elisa signals-intelligence demo.