With the successful launch of an experimental cubesat for the U.S. Space Force, Rocket Lab returned its Electron small satellite launcher into commercial service on July 29, with about six more missions on its manifest for the year.
The company, which is also currently pursuing Part 23 type certification of the S4 eVTOL aircraft as well as production certification of the assembly line which will manufacture it, is targeting air carrier approval in 2022.
The U.S. Air Force has retired the first Kratos XQ-58A to become a new exhibit at the National Museum of the Air Force after the pioneering unmanned aircraft system logged a total of four flight hours on three flights in 2019.
Boeing could accept more risk with its supply chain as it seeks to ramp up 737 MAX narrowbody production quickly in 2022, and it will hold its own workforce at roughly 140,000 employees, company leaders said.
Regional air mobility startup Electra is teaming under a NASA contract with researchers at the University of Southern California to mature blown lift technologies for electric short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.
German satellite launch startup Isar Aerospace has secured $75 million from investors which include Porsche, the majority owner of the Volkswagen automobile company.
A tacair subcommittee member has proposed that the Air Force study the “feasibility and advisability” of integrating a Raytheon ALQ-249 mid-band radar jammer on its tactical fighter fleet.
Customcells will industrialize battery cells for mass production, a key step in Lilium’s plans to scale-up production capacity ahead of the aircraft’s planned commercial launch in 2024.
In a key step towards development of the planned follow-on seven-seater air taxi, Samad Aerospace has completed hover tests of its half-scale e-Starling all-electric prototype aircraft.
Lawmakers will consider draft legislation that would give the Pentagon a way to allow the Missile Defense Agency to develop laser technology to counter ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
Chinese autonomous air vehicle (AAV) startup EHang has begun operations at its newly commissioned production facility in Yunfu, around 100 mi. west of its Guangzhou headquarters.
The space agencies of Canada, Italy and Japan are joining with NASA in a worldwide call for qualified applicants to contribute to a measurement definition team that will support a future International Mars Ice Mapper Mission orbiter.
A near-term solution for the engine shortage grounding 15% of the U.S. Air Force fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35As may be to simply buy more spares, a Pratt & Whitney executive said on July 27.
Spain has independently developed and installed a new operating software load for its F/A-18 Hornet, bolstering the aircraft’s capabilities at a time when other nations are replacing their legacy Hornet fleets.
German space launch startup Polaris has been awarded a study contract by the German ministry of defense to look at how its winged Aurora suborbital spaceplane could be adapted for reconnaissance missions.
Electra.aero was founded on the premise that ultrashort-takeoff regional aircraft enabled by distributed electric propulsion would fly more payload longer distances than vertical-takeoff vehicles while still being able to operate from a similarly constrained urban footprint.
