Aviation Week & Space Technology

A highly stressed UAV force may have finally worn down USAF resistance to automatic UAV takeoff and landing systems.

Eurofighter engineers and pilots claim to have made big improvements with some small shape changes.

The Kawasaki P-1 was showcased for senior British officers in advance of Japan’s anticipated bid for the U.K.’s new maritime patrol contract.

The exuberance was palpable at APL as employees watched the fruits of their labor on the New Horizons Pluto mission unfold before them, underscoring the sense of awe and wonder of space exploration.

SpaceX plans more rigorous testing in the wake of June’s Falcon 9 launch failure.

USAF designed it, but will industry build Super Strypi rail-launched rocket?

Flyback boosters and a reusable, scramjet-powered second stage to feature in Australian subscale launch demonstration

Boeing has not won a single international KC-46 order thus far; the Airbus KC-30 now has 48 orders.

EC-created body looks at lessons learned from Germanwings disaster, with recommendations such as random drug and alcohol testing

Skymark Airlines, currently in bankruptcy protection, is an investment target for Delta and ANA because of its Tokyo Haneda slots

For years, the Civil Aviation Administration of China insisted that China had three big airlines, three big bases and therefore three intercontinental gateways. Now dogged Chengdu has managed to join their ranks.

Russia’s supersonic ambitions; Swiss test UAV deliveries; fuel cell keeps multirotor aloft; ATR “green regional” demo flies; 3-D-printed missile incoming.

New technologies for an advanced turboprop are under review by Turbomeca in readiness for start of the next Clean Sky demonstrator program.

The ScanEagle unmanned aircraft has its origins in tuna-spotting from boats. Now its designers return to the same unmet market with a different, more flexible design.

Questioning pace of innovation for commercial aersspace; suggesting how to meld a "Super Long-Range Bomber"; rethinking midair refueling for commercial transport; Streamline security check-in lines

Solar Impulse crosses the Pacific and suffers some damage; Airbus E-Fan crosses the Channel and takes some heat.

With a cross-channel flight under its belt, Airbus begins to tackle serializing electric light aircraft.

Think that range, payload and stealth will be the deciding factors in the Air Force’s bomber choice? Think again.

Perceived threat from Turkey keeps Greek defense spending high as country suffers.

Thomas Kuhn (see photo) has been appointed president and CEO of BizJet International Sales and Support, Tulsa, Oklahoma, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik. He succeeds Manfred Gaertner, who is leaving Lufthansa Technik at the end of July.

Consolidation opportunities could be drying up in Europe, although there is still some activity for those with the resources to pursue some small regional entities.

Hikari, a European-Japanese consortium, says hypersonic travel can be a reality, with stepwise work through all the development issues.

DEFENSE Japan’s Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft made its global debut at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford, England. Afterward, the aircraft will deploy to Djibouti for testing in hot conditions. The U.K. is expected to reestablish a maritime patrol aircraft requirement later this year.

Turnaround times, environmental impact and passenger comfort are among the key issues facing hypersonic travel planners.

Data from Pluto flyby will keep coming in through 2016, but early results raise interesting new questions about the makeup of Pluto and Charon.