Defense News reports, “In December the Air Force awarded Boeing Defense Systems a more than $2 billion contract to start the first engine replacements on the B-52H Stratofortress, marking a major step forward for the overhaul of the venerable Cold War-era bomber. In a Dec. 23 contract announcement, the Pentagon stated that the task order for the Commercial Engine Replacement Program, or CERP, requires Boeing to modify a pair of B-52s with new engines and associated subsystems — and then test the aircraft.”
Full Story (Defense News)
Tag: Aviation
Heavy-Lift Cargo Drones Streamline Alpine Logistics at Val Gardena World Cup
Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “The organizers of the FIS Ski World Cup in Val Gardena recently integrated FlyingBasket heavy-lift cargo drones into their preparation phase to manage logistics in complex alpine environments. Between December 15 and 16, the FlyingBasket FB3 cargo drone was deployed to transfer television production equipment and technical materials to key locations on the slopes. Designed to carry loads of up to 100 kg, the drone operated at altitudes that typically necessitate the use of heavy vehicles or intensive manual labor.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)
Video
FB3 Cargo drone
FlyingBasket; YouTube
Airbus Delivers Nearly 800 Jets in 2025, Topping Revised Target
Aerotime reports, “Airbus is set to slightly exceed its revised 2025 aircraft delivery target, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg reported that Airbus delivered 793 commercial aircraft in 2025, above the manufacturer’s revised target of ‘around 790.’ Airbus confirmed on January 3, 2026, that it will publish its audited annual commercial figures on January 12, 2025.”
Full Story (Aerotime)
Autoland System Completes First Emergency Landing of a Civil Aircraft
CBS News reports, “For the first time, an automatic landing system called Autoland was used to land a plane in Colorado after pilots reported losing cabin pressure mid-flight. The safety system activated itself and took control of the aircraft to land it.”
Full Story (CBS News – video)
FAA’s ‘Michigan Model’ Lays Groundwork for Large-Scale AAM Operations
Flying Magazine reports, “The FAA has taken major strides toward the safe integration of advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft such as drones and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis. A special federal aviation regulation (SFAR) for powered-lift pilot training and operations, guidance for powered-lift certification projects, a proposal for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone flight, and more have been introduced in recent months. An eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) is set to begin next year and conclude in 2028—a year the FAA anticipates AAM operations scaling up in major U.S. cities.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Bombardier’s Global 8000 Achieves FAA Certification as Fastest Civil Jet in Decades
Reuters reports, “Bombardier’s Global 8000 business jet, the world’s fastest civilian plane since the Concorde, has received certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the Canadian planemaker said on Friday. The Global 8000 jet has a top speed of Mach 0.95, or about 729 miles per hour.”
Full Story (Reuters)
BAE’s PHASA-35 HAPS Secures Multiyear AFRL Surveillance Contract
Aviation Week reports, “The BAE Systems PHASA-35, an uncrewed, high-altitude, pseudo-satellite (HAPS), will operate monthslong airborne surveillance missions in coordination with U.S. Southern Command under a new contract. Acting on behalf of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), NASA quietly awarded a contract five months ago worth up to $10 million for the PHASA-35 to resume airborne missions operating from July 23, 2025, to April 17, 2030.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Air Unveils and Delivers First Production Air One Cargo Aircraft
Aviation International News reports, “Israeli start-up Air has revealed the first production model of its Air One Cargo eVTOL aircraft and delivered it to an undisclosed launch customer, the company announced on December 17. Before it enters service, the aircraft will make its first flights at a test site in southern Israel.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
AIAA Announces Next Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Aircraft
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 18, 2025 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce that Rakesh Kapania, Norris and Wendy Mitchell Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Virginia Tech, will serve as the next editor-in-chief of the Journal of Aircraft, with service commencing in January 2026.
Kapania succeeds Mark Drela, Terry J. Kohler Professor of Fluid Dynamics in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who has led the journal since 2023.
The AIAA Publications Committee oversees the search and selection effort for new editors-in-chief. The search committee was led by Misty Davies, NASA Ames Intelligent Systems Division, and an AIAA Publications Committee member. Kapania was chosen from a group of highly qualified candidates.
“Being selected as the Editor-in-Chief of AIAA’s Journal of Aircraft, one of the most prestigious journals in aircraft engineering, is a tremendous honor. Succeeding one of the giants of aircraft engineering, Mark Drela, is very humbling. I am thrilled to take this role at a time when there are enormous ongoing developments in all facets of aircraft engineering, including advanced air mobility, autonomy, artificial intelligence, materials, advanced manufacturing, and hypersonic vehicles.” said Kapania.
Kapania received his doctoral degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University, M.S. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and B.S. from the Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, India. At Virginia Tech he has taught courses related to aerospace structures and computational methods. His research interests are analysis and design of aerospace structures, computational aeroelasticity, composite structures, multidisciplinary analysis and design optimization, and machine learning. Kapania has published nearly 240 archival journal articles and more than 385 proceeding papers, a significant number of them at AIAA conferences. He has guided/co-guided 59 Ph.D. and 77 M.S. students and 20 Postdoctoral Fellows. Kapania has a long history of service to AIAA, serving on technical committees, two tours of duty as an associate editor of the AIAA Journal, as a member of the editorial advisory board of the AIAA Education Series, and as Faculty Advisor to Virginia Tech’s Design/ Build/Fly team. A winner of the AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Award (2016) and Boeing Welliver Summer Fellowship (1996), Kapania is a Fellow of AIAA and the Royal Aeronautical Society.
The Journal of Aircraft is devoted to the advancement of the applied science and technology of airborne flight through the dissemination of original archival papers describing significant advances in aircraft, the operation of aircraft, and applications of aircraft technology to other fields.
For more information on the Journal of Aircraft, contact David Arthur, Senior Director, Publications.
Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram.
Wisk Completes First Gen 6 eVTOL Air Taxi Flight
Aerotime reports, “Wisk Aero, a fully owned subsidiary of Boeing, has successfully completed the first flight of its Generation 6 aircraft, bringing autonomous passenger air taxis a step closer to commercial reality. In a statement issued on December 16, 2025, Wisk announced that this achievement marks a significant industry milestone.”
Full Story (Aerotime)
Video
Wisk Aero’s Generation 6 aircraft
Wisk Aero | YouTube