Aviation Week & Space Technology

Now that the new tanker’s bumpy design phase is over, the U.S. Air Force is looking forward to bringing the fly-by-wire Pegasus online.

In this week’s roundup: DigitalGlobe acquisition adds to its analysis prowess; Bangladesh buys a C295W; Raytheon wraps up risk-reduction testing on GPS III OCX; and the U.S. Army opts for a new version of the Switchblade UAV.

Will global agreements to limit CO2 emissions force airlines to push for breakthrough technologies?

Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, two billionaires with ambitious visions for space colonization, have markedly different approaches to settling the ‘final frontier.’

The defense sector’s structure is bound to be affected by seven factors within the next 10 years.

After a long hiatus from the market, supersonic airliners may be poised to make a big comeback, and Boom Technology is looking to be first in the market.

NASA evaluation highlights Elytron VTOL design challenges as the scaled UAV prepares for tests.

Raytheon adds network protections to avionics for Bell Boeing’s V-22 under an existing $250 million sustainment contract.

Three months after becoming CEO of troubled Air-France-KLM, Jean-Marc Janaillac prepares to release the cornerstone of his strategy to turn the airline around.

New deals are creating bigger combinations in the leasing world, which provides about half of the aircraft industry’s orders.

Norway’s 2017 budget blueprint includes plans for participating in the second and third years of the proposed joint buy.

NASA’s original 2015 goal of certifying commercial space vehicles to service the ISS has not been met but, despite setbacks, Boeing still hopes to make it happen by late 2018.

HY4 flies on hydrogen fuel cell; fuel burn could be reduced faster; laminar-flow wings ready for Europe’s BLADE; flights probe Europe’s weather-forecasting failures.

The U.S. and 44 nations across the globe have signed on to a set of international standards for the export and use of armed UAVs.

Boeing CH-47F Chinook production will dip to 40 aircraft per year as the company enters a Block II development program that doesn’t hit the production line until 2021.

Participating countries in the initial voluntary phase include 18 of the 20 states with the highest volume of international civil aviation activity, covering more than 86% of international passenger and cargo traffic.

Automated refueling could remove the need for a boom operator in the future.

Shelley Lavender explains how Boeing continues to reinvent platforms by adding technology during sustainment and production.

Ongoing problems of once-promising low-cost carrier Fastjet have much to do with the difficult operating environment for airlines in Africa.

In this week’s Washington Outlook, research funding for advanced helicopter engines; the SpaceX-ULA spat; managing risk at the border and the hunt for counter-UAV technology.

Readers comment on UAE's safety bureau's preliminary report of Emirates' Aug. 3 crash; X-plane players; UCAVs and AI development; Mars cooperation.

Connectivity and a new service economy will make the flight deck of the future more like a smartphone. Systems from weather radar to the APU could benefit.

N ASA has named Thomas Zurbuchen associate administrator-science. Zurbuchen—a former University of Michigan professor of space science and engineering—succeeds Geoffrey Yoder, who will retire.

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Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.