Aviation Week & Space Technology

By Tony Osborne
Just over one hundred days into new ownership and after a restructuring that changed the shape and face of the airline, British leisure carrier Monarch Airlines says it is on course for stability and profitability in 2015.
Air Transport

While the A380neo’s development might cost “only” $2.5 billion, wouldn’t that money be better spent enhancing another successful program?

Reader disputes Aviation Week's choice of Putin as Person of the Year; Human factors emphasized as area of concern for recent crashes, FAA Certification System is lauded; Real-time transmission of flight and voice data is urged; Overlapping capabilities of sensors should serve all branches of science, not just address military concerns; The efficacy of Single Pilot Operations is questioned

ICAO task force to study concepts for sharing risk data and to create guidance for developing risk assessments that states can use to decide when to issue warnings or close airspace.
Air Transport

By Graham Warwick
From X-planes to the “black budget” to where the U.S. is placing its technology bets for the future, our editors discuss what’s buried in President Obama’s fiscal 2016 budget request to Congress.
Aerospace

A Northrop Grumman-led team is dashing its plan to propose a modified BAE Systems Hawk trainer for the U.S. Air Force’s T-38 replacement program, opting instead for a clean-sheet design for the $1 billion program.
Defense and Space

By Jen DiMascio
Senators try to build support to give Ukraine “defensive lethal weapons”; Bigelow Aerospace asks for a review of property rights on the Moon; the Obama budget request omits the proposed private-jet user fee.
Aviation Week & Space Technology

By Steven Grundman
The time is right to consider the propensity of the A&D industry to innovate and the aimpoints on which its response to the Pentagon’s call should be targeted.
Aerospace

The Navy wants to fix the Littoral Combat Ship, but the changes are so extensive that it might make more sense to start over.
Defense and Space

By Sean Broderick
The overall budget, a slight decrease from fiscal 2015’s enacted level, includes requests of $9.9 billion for Operations; $2.85 billion for Facilities & Equipment; $166 million for Research, Engineering, & Development; and $2.9 billion in Airport Improvement Program grants.

Defense planners are increasingly concerned that advances in hypersonic glide vehicles from China and Russia pose a looming threat to the U.S. and its allies.
Defense and Space

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is "very close to approval" of the strategy to procure the so-called Redesigned Kill Vehicle from a national industry team managed by the agency, says director Vice Adm. James Syring.
Defense and Space

The procurement and research and development (R&D) plan would increase in the fiscal 2016 budget request by $8 billion compared with levels enacted by Congress in fiscal 2015.
Defense and Space

By Michael Bruno
If enacted for fiscal 2016, the combined $534.3 billion “baseline” and $50.9 billion off-book Overseas Contingency Operations requests would be an increase of almost $25 billion, around 4%, over the current fiscal year’s total.
Defense and Space

U.S. Defense, Energy 2016 budgets will build nuclear deterrence programs, albeit slowly.
Defense and Space

Northrop Grumman, once considered a Uclass frontrunner, halts work as Pentagon once again delays competition for carrier-based UAV.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
On the 100th anniversary of NACA, NASA rededicates itself to pursuing the fundamental technologies that made its predecessor so successful.
Aerospace

Galileo will comprise a civilian-controlled constellation of 30 satellites, but civil aviation authorities are skeptical that Europe’s space sector can meet navigation and communications safety standards.
Space

Google Lunar XPrize grants contestants more time and money to meet a difficult goal.
Space

By Mark Carreau
An annual assessment of NASA’s human spaceflight programs points to safety risks resulting from a lack of transparency and a disconnect between program goals and funding.
Space

NASA’s fiscal 2016 budget request continues to feature past policies, and is likely to experience past partisan battles on Capitol Hill as well.
Space

A shortage of airline pilots, a worrisome trend that will grow more apparent over the next two decades, has the industry contemplating current pilot-education requirements and ways to streamline the process of certifying commercial pilots.
Air Transport

By Adrian Schofield
Pilot academies in Australia are playing a leading role in helping meet the growing need for pilots at Southeast Asian and Chinese airlines.
Air Transport

Demand for pilots at U.S. majors and regionals is outstripping supply and likely to cause shortages unless corrective steps are taken.
Air Transport

Readers weigh in on choice of Putin as Person of the Year; Defense Department’s pace of technological pursuits defended; Similarity between Boeing Sugar truss-braced wing and Hurel-Dubois design noted; Skepticism about Turkey becoming a major defense exporter; Request for article on ‘Switchblade’ roadable aircraft; correction of airline type typo.