Defense News reports Boeing announced at the AUSA conference that it has “flown a new version of the AH-64E Apache attack helicopter with upgraded capabilities.” Boeing said in a statement that the “Version 6.5 attack helicopter, which Boeing went under contract to produce with the U.S. Army in December 2021, includes software updates and improvements to the pilot interface.” According to Boeing, “some upgrades are an optimized route and attack planning capability, enhanced Link 16 features, and an open-systems architecture that will allow for easy technology insertion later on.”
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Tag: Aeronautics
USN to Purchase Two Kratos Valkyries
Aviation Week reports that the U.S. Navy “is buying two Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) with sensor and weapon payloads as the service is developing its plans for future uncrewed autonomous aircraft.” The Pentagon “announced the $15.5 million cost-plus fixed-fee contract on Dec. 30.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Army Orders Additional Safety Training as Helicopter Crashes Rise
Defense News reports, “The Army has ordered an aviation “safety stand up,” with additional aviation training across the force following a dozen mishaps that have resulted in 10 fatalities in only the first six months of the fiscal year. By comparison, the Army had 10 mishaps and 14 fatalities for all fiscal 2023.”
Full Story (Defense News)
Army Revamping Air Crew Training With Focus on Aircraft and Simulators
Defense News reports, “After several fatal Army aircraft crashes and the arrival of a more complicated airspace in the future, the service is reviewing and updating how it trains its pilots and its warrant officers in particular. Those changes will likely include a look at the types of helicopters soldiers are training with, simulator time and effectiveness, new rotor blades and tail rotor drive systems for the Apache and warrant officers sticking to their technical tasks for longer in the careers.”
Full Story (Defense News)
AIAA Mourns the Passing of Ming Chang
It is with a very heavy heart that we share Ming Chang, AIAA Aeronautics Domain Lead and AIAA Associate Fellow, passed away Sunday, 1 October 2023. Ming was a pioneer throughout his career in aeronautical engineering. Ming’s leadership driving AIAA to address the important challenges of the aeronautical world will be long remembered. His AIAA service is directly responsible for the Institute’s aeronautics domain leadership. Everyone at AIAA extends our deepest condolences to Ming’s family through this difficult time.
FAA Announces Pilot Training, Certification Rules for Air Taxis
Reuters reports, “The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday finalized comprehensive training and pilot certification rules for flying air taxis, addressing a key hurdle to the deployment of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. The FAA called the rule ‘the final piece in the puzzle for safely introducing these aircraft in the near term.’ Some flying companies hope to begin flying commercial passengers as soon as 2025.”
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Embraer Aircraft Deliveries Increase by 33% Year on Year
Aerotime reports, “Embraer has reported strong increases in aircraft deliveries in its latest quarter results, with its Executive Jets segment performing particularly well. On October 18, 2024, the Brazilian planemaker announced that its overall aircraft deliveries had risen by 33% year on year, or by 24% when compared to the same quarterly period in 2023.”
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DARPA Funds Sikorsky to Convert Black Hawk Into Drone
Aerotime reports, “American aircraft manufacturer Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, will convert a United States Army UH-60M Black Hawk into a drone. The company received a $6 million award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to install the company’s ALIAS/MATRIX flight autonomy system onto the helicopter, essentially converting it into a drone.”
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Most Florida Airports Back in Service Post-Milton
Aviation International News reports, “Airports across Florida are shrugging off the results of Hurricane Milton today. The storm came ashore as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday evening just south of Sarasota on the state’s Gulf Coast. Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport (KSRQ) will remain shuttered until at least tomorrow as workers continue to clean up and assess damage to the airport’s infrastructure.”
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Embraer E190F Freighter Variant Earns FAA Certification
Simple Flying reports, “Embraer has announced that its E190F passenger-to-freighter (P2F) has been fully certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Brazilian planemaker launched its P2F program – which also includes the E195 – in May 2022, with the E190F completing its first flight in April of this year. The company revealed that the E190F received full FAA certification last month following its certification by the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) in July.”
Full Story (Simple Flying)
Innovators Invited to Compete to Build Best Autonomous Emergency Response Aircraft
Flying Magazine reports, “Calling all students, engineers, businesses, and other innovators. Time is running out to join a competition that will award $2 million in prizes to whoever can build the best autonomous emergency response aircraft. December 11 is the submission deadline for Stage 1 of GoAERO—a three-year contest backed by NASA, Boeing, RTX, and other key aviation stakeholders seeking to aid the estimated 4.5 million Americans living in ‘ambulance deserts,’ who may need to wait longer than 25 minutes for emergency services to arrive. The aircraft created by competitors could rescue people in danger and respond to disasters, medical emergencies, or humanitarian crises.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Honeywell Unveils Its SAMURAI AI-Enabled Counter-Drone Swarm System
National Defense Magazine reports, “Honeywell has launched its Stationary and Mobile UAS Reveal and Intercept system, or SAMURAI, which is designed to counter swarm drones and protect critical assets in an increasingly contested airspace, the company announced Sept. 16. The system, which can be used on vehicles and fixed-based platforms, combines ‘beyond-visual-line-of-sight communication with command-and-control capabilities’ to ‘detect, track and then counter drone swarms.’”
Full Story (National Defense Magazine)
FAA Says Agency Must Ensure Adequate Safety Measures Before 737 Max Production Can Expand
Reuters reports, “The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday the agency must ensure the planemaker’s safety processes are adequate before it will lift its 737 MAX production cap. FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said he raised the issue with Boeing’s new chief executive Kelly Ortberg and wants to ensure the planemaker follows through on its quality turnaround plan.”
Full Story (Reuters)
Piper M700 Fury Attains Type Certification in Canada
Flying Magazine reports, “Piper Aircraft’s M700 Fury has achieved type certification from Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA)—a validation that also includes flight into known icing (FIKI) approval. The first delivery of the single-engine turboprop into Canada is scheduled for this quarter, with additional deliveries following certification in Europe, Brazil, and the U.K., the company said Wednesday.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Video
Piper Introduces the M700 Fury
(Piper Aircraft, Inc.; YouTube)
Boeing Boosts Its Forecast for China’s Commercial Jet Fleet Demand
MarketWatch reports, “China will more than double its commercial airplane fleet by 2043, says Boeing, thanks to the expansion of the aviation industry to meet growing passenger travel and cargo demand. The U.S. plane maker said Tuesday in its annual 20-year forecast that China will need 8,830 new commercial airplanes through 2043, up from its 8,560…”
Full Story (MarketWatch)
Aerospace America: Bringing Home a Piece of Space History
ORLANDO, Fla. – Aerospace America reports, “Authors of a technical paper at the 2025 AIAA SciTech Forum describe how Vanguard 1, the second U.S. satellite, could be retrieved, analyzed and displayed at one of the Smithsonian museums.”
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Boeing Resumes 777X Test Flights
Reuters reports, “Boeing resumed testing for its long-delayed 777X widebody jet on Thursday, with the first flight since the U.S. planemaker grounded the test fleet in August due to the failure of a key engine mounting structure. The grounding came just five weeks after it had started certification flights for the 777-9 with officials from the U.S. aviation regulator onboard.”
Full Story (Reuters)
Volatus Aerospace Launches “Surveillance as a Service” UAV Solution
Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “Volatus Aerospace Inc. has launched its new ‘Surveillance as a Service’ solution, aiming to deliver unparalleled scalability and rapid deployment capabilities. Monitored from Volatus’ state-of-the-art Operations Control Centre (OCC), this flexible, secure and multi-modal surveillance offering empowers clients with faster response times and actionable intelligence.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)
Saab Providing Drone Swarming Capability for Sweden’s Armed Forces
Aviation Week reports, “Sweden’s armed forces have revealed a secret drone swarming program using software developed by Saab. The system, developed over the past year, is designed for sub-25-kg (55.1 lb.) uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS). It allows individual soldiers to control as many as 100 drones at a time to gather intelligence, defense officials say.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
USAF Science & Technology Chief: New Urgency to Embrace Digital Transformation to Strengthen the Force’s Resiliency and Ability to Compete Against Near-Peer Rivals
By Anne Wainscott-Sargent, AIAA Communications Team
Watch On Demand
ORLANDO, Fla. – The ability to field critical capabilities in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) has never been more urgent, a senior Air Force official told AIAA SciTech Forum attendees.
“We are in competition with near-competitive nations and China in particular is now on par to deliver new capabilities in seven years or less,” said Kristen Baldwin, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force.
She noted that in comparison, USAF programs take an average of 16 years to deliver new capability. “We see digital transformation as a true disruptive business practice that we can bring to bear. We have to invest now – we have to invest in new capabilities.”
Baldwin, speaking via Zoom on the second day of the forum, oversees a $5 billion budget across multiple research sites worldwide, focusing on digital engineering, cyber resiliency, and the service’s science and technology portfolio.
She described the Air Force’s digital materiel management approach, which includes six key initiatives to enhance data security, training, and IT infrastructure. Baldwin also outlined the integration of digital strategies across the Air Force and Space Force, including putting the government’s Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) and other government reference architectures as requirements in contracts. MOSA is the cornerstone of new and legacy platforms and weapons.
Baldwin also mentioned the five pillars of the Air Force’s engineering strategy that has been embraced by U.S. allies, particularly in the UK and Australia. Her team’s Digital Materiel Management (DMM) approach has led to both schedule acceleration and technology improvements.
She stressed the need for continuous engagement with industry partners and international collaborations to drive digital transformation forward. The USAF has created two digital consortia – the Industry Association Consortium (IAC) and the Digital Acceleration Consortium (DAC). The IAC provides an open collaborative opportunity for the defense industrial base to help identify barriers and develop solutions associated with the rapid, full-scale adoption of DMM. The DAC recommends solutions modernizing IT infrastructure, compatible Integrated Digital Environments, secure access to data, and common data standards, policy, and contracting language.
During the Q&A, Baldwin agreed that as government goes more digital, it will be more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
“We have to implement that cyber resilience to really manage our data. We can’t rely on just network and perimeter defense. We’ve got to be able to implement and manage that security of our data, so these environments we’re building and the way we classify that data is a key foundational element of our digital transformation approach. We have to be agile in the way we can maneuver to respond to cyber threats. We have to be continuously aware and adapt,” she said.
The final question ended on a fun note: What did Baldwin consider the most feasible technological innovation from the Star Wars universe that could be developed within the next 50 years, and what challenges would engineers and scientists face in making it a reality?
“I love the idea of robotics and image holograms. The advancement of robotics as well as holograms can really help to transform the way that we support our forces. When we think of this urgency in national security, we’re going to find ourselves in situations where we are not going to have the ability to wait for delivery of future capability. We’ll have to reset and regroup in place.”
Responding to Baldwin’s presentation, Terry Hill, digital engineering program manager for NASA in Washington, D.C., said, “It’s good to hear the Air Force’s plan. Their approach to MOSA and their commitment to moving to a digital ecosystem is refreshing because that’s where NASA is wanting to go and we’re trying to work across agencies to best leverage all our different investments.”
Hill added that the Air Force’s emphasis on cybersecurity also benefits civil agencies like NASA. “Focusing on different areas and sharing solutions is definitely the way forward,” he said.