Aviation Week & Space Technology

The Office of Naval Research’s Laser Weapon System Demonstrator will be designed to protect the U.S. Navy’s DDG-51 Flight 2 destroyers from unmanned aircraft and swarming small boats.

Tiny ADS-B for UAVs; better materials, lighter diesels; NASA seeks clean-sheet thinking on 2035 airspace; Basque partners combine additive and subtractive

From the commercial-aircraft ramp-up and small-UAV explosion to U.S. defense budget pressures and Europe’s response to Russian aggression, 2016 will be a dynamic year for the aerospace and defense industry.

The technology generating vast quantities of data from new aircraft is well ahead of coherent plans for how to use that information.

Humans remain at the heart of the Pentagon’s evolving strategy to restore U.S. conventional deterrence, but machines will play a key and increasing role from intelligence analysis to combat operations.

A Lufthansa official states final documents were missing both for the engine and for the aircraft.

A320neo and C Series enter service; F-35A goes operational, JAS 39E flies; emissions measures and tracking mandates for aviation; contract protests and consolidation pressures; unmanned aircraft and suborbital spaceplanes—things will come in pairs in 2016.

With predictions of a slight reversal in 2016 and a return to slow growth in 2018, the business aircraft industry puts its bets on sustained demand for larger, faster, farther-flying jets.

At least some of the improvements for the T-50 that KAI is developing for the T-X program, notably the inflight-refueling module, should become lasting assets for KAI, and not just for the trainer version of the type.

2016 will see several new narrowbody types enter the field, but the dominant players remain Airbus and Boeing.

Pursuit of international sales pits U.S. missile manufacturers against their European rivals, but it is not always a two-way fight—or a definite victory.

Evolving new technologies expected to usher in big changes for commercial aviation systems and aircraft.

Will it or won’t it? Odds are favorable that Congress won’t change the basic structure of the FAA with next year’s reauthorization, but privatization will eventually arrive.

Peruse every issue of Aviation Week, from 1916 to 2016, in our new digital archive, and help us celebrate Aviation Week’s 100th birthday.

SpaceX is celebrating the first successful touchdown on land of an orbital-class booster, the first step toward a potential paradigm shift in easing human access to space.

A refugee crisis, the threat of terrorism and a militant Russia with anti-NATO rhetoric continue to dominate the strategic picture for European nations.

Development programs for new fighters focus on stealth, while legacy fighters struggle to keep production lines open.

Lockheed Martin, Raytheon stand to benefit as worldwide demand for missile defense systems continues to grow.

Countering UAS, beating brownout, robotic copilots, communication by laser, and building-block satellites are among advances that could make the news in 2016 and beyond.

The tension between flight-hour maintenance support and operating leases could ease if the MRO agreements could transfer between operators.

Jan. 4-8—AAIA/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference. Manchester Grand Hyatt. San Diego. See aiaa-scitech.org/SDM Feb. 2-4—The Unmanned Systems Conference and Exposition. World Forum. The Hague, Netherlands. See tusexpo.com

Budget cuts amid political and economic instability in Brazil is forcing rethinking of major defense projects.

Pros and cons of registering “drones,” reactions to Person of the Year choice

Airline-representative flight testing continues as Bombardier builds the CS100’s maturity ahead of service entry with launch customer Swiss International Air Lines.