Tag: Completes

T-7A Red Hawk Trainer Wraps Up Extreme Temperature Testing

Flying Magazine reports that the U.S. Air Force’s new Boeing T-7A Red Hawk advanced trainer has finished extreme temperature testing to evaluate “its endurance from hot deserts to deep-freeze conditions.” The monthlong trial, conducted at the McKinley Climatic Lab at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, included testing the aircraft’s electronics and instrumentation “in temperatures ranging from 110 degrees to minus-25 degrees Fahrenheit.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)

Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 Makes 4th Successful Test Flight

Simple Flying reports, “Boom Supersonic conducted a fourth and successful Boom XB-1test flight, this time reaching an altitude of 16,150 feet and a speed of Mach 0.617 (about 313 knots equivalent airspeed) during tests for flutter, g-forces, handling, and landing gear. The proof-of-concept XB-1 is helping educate Boom Supersonic on how to build and test supersonic aircraft in the lead-up to building Boom Overture.”
Full Story (Simple Flying)

Vertical Aerospace Completes VX4 Phase One Testing

Reuters reports, “UK-based Vertical Aerospace has completed the first phase of piloted testing of a prototype of its air-taxi, VX4, it said on Thursday, sending the company’s shares up 3.9% in U.S. premarket trading. The VX4 has 1,500 pre-orders worth $6 billion from companies including Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines and Japan Airlines. The phase one testing included multiple piloted tethered flights and ground runs. It completed 70 individual test points to validate its safety in the real-world flight scenarios.”
Full Story (Reuters)

Joby Aviation Achieves Key Air Taxi Certification Milestone

Flying Magazine reports “It’s full steam ahead for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi manufacturer Joby Aviation.”  The company recently reported its fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings and revealed “that it recorded revenue for the first time” while “announcing plans to ramp up testing, certification, and manufacturing activities.” Joby is “the first eVTOL manufacturer to complete the third of five stages in FAA type certification, and the firm is now turning to stage four: for-credit flight testing with the regulator.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)

Archer Performs Battery Pack Drop Test for Midnight Air Taxi

Flying Magazine reports, “Air taxi manufacturer Archer Aviation has reached what it says is a crucial milestone in its test campaign—one that could prove valuable as it pursues type certification for its flagship Midnight aircraft. The company on Friday said it successfully completed a series of drop tests on Midnight’s battery packs, an evaluation it will need to complete again during for-credit testing with the FAA.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)

GA-ASI Completes Test of Small UAS Aerial Recovery System

The Drive reports GA-ASI has “begun flight demonstrations of a system it’s developed that will allow small drones to be launched and recovered in mid-air from larger uncrewed aerial vehicles. … The concept is known to the company as the Aerial Recovery System for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems/Air-Launched Effects (SUAS/ALE).” A media release from GA-ASI “reveals that a system demonstration took place over the Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, on September 20, 2023.”
Full Story (The Drive)

USAF Completes First Uncrewed Test Flight Utilizing AI

Bloomberg Government reported that the US Air Force “has completed its first flight with an uncrewed combat aircraft using artificial intelligence, according to the Department of Defense.” The XQ-58A Valkyrie combat aircraft by Kratos Defense and Security Solutions “led a three-hour simulated combat mission at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio on July 25.” The AI-led flight “was a product of an Air Force Research Laboratory effort, the Skyborg Vanguard program, which uses an autonomous aircraft teaming architecture and integrates multiple technology components.” Skyborg is “building a system that is portable and modular – fitting into multiple aircraft platforms.”
Full Story (Bloomberg Government)

GE Aerospace’s XA100 Engine Completes Third Phase of Ground Tests

Aviation Week reports that “GE Aerospace has wrapped a third phase of ground tests on its XA100 adaptive turbofan engine, as it continues to press for support to re-engine the F-35 with its proposal.” Breaking Defense reports that according to David Tweedie, GE Aerospace Vice President and General Manager for Advanced Defense Products, the third phase of testing, “conducted in the company’s Evendale test cell, ran between April and June 2023. Through it, GE engineers collected reams of new data and pursued some new approaches. For example, the company tested different elements of the flight envelope, and Tweedie said that ‘there’s ways to reconfigure the engine to go exercise it in different ways to understand performance derivatives, and other things.’” GE hopes that the data gathered from the “third round of testing will bolster its efforts to mature adaptive engine technology – cutting edge propulsion that can offer capability improvements like greater fuel efficiency and more thrust over legacy engines.”
Full Story (Aviation Week); More Info (Breaking Defense)

Boom XB-1 Technology Demonstrator Getting Closer to Supersonic Milestone

Aviation Week reports, “Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 technology demonstrator probed deeper into the transonic speed regime during its ninth test flight from Mojave Air & Space Port, California, on Dec. 13, paving the way for an attempt to reach and exceed Mach 1, now targeted for early 2025. Piloted by Boom chief test pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg, the XB-1 expanded the altitude envelope to over 27,700 ft., continued tests of the Flutter Excitation System (FES), and reached a maximum speed of Mach 0.87.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

Kratos Completes First Flight of Thanatos UCAV

Aviation Week reports, “Kratos Defense and Security recently completed the first flight of its Thanatos stealthy uncrewed combat air vehicle, proving out the aircraft’s basic design as the company now focuses on flying a fully integrated system. Steve Fendley, president of Kratos’ Unmanned Systems Division, tells Aviation Week the company hopes to learn more about the system as it evolves over the next 6-12 months. The company would not say when the first flight occurred, just that it was within the past several months.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

Rolls-Royce Completes Pearl 10X Test Flights

Flight Global reports, “Rolls-Royce has completed flight testing of the Pearl 10X engine it is developing for the Dassault Aviation Falcon 10X business jet after a six-month campaign. Installed on the propulsion specialist’s Boeing 747-200 testbed – contributing to the jet’s unique five-engine configuration – the powerplant has been in flight test since 29 March.”
Full Story (Flight Global)

Video

Rolls-Royce’s Most Powerful Pearl 10X Engine Getting Ready for First Flight
(Global Update; YouTube)

NASA Completes Super Hornet Tests

ExecutiveGov reports, “NASA Armstrong Research Center has completed complex loads of calibration tests on an F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft from the U.S. Navy at its Flight Loads Laboratory in Edwards, California.” The testing dealt with the aircraft’s vertical tails, and test engineers activated 84 hydraulic actuators in a total of 87 load cases.
Full Story (ExecutiveGov

Trailblazing STEM Educator Amy Medina Jorge Completes Spaceflight on Blue Origin’s NS-32 Mission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 31, 2025 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) issued the following statement from AIAA CEO Clay Mowry:

“Congratulations to Amy Medina Jorge on her journey beyond the Kármán line! We are thrilled to see such a remarkable educator-astronaut make the journey of a lifetime as part of Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-32 mission. Amy is one of those teachers who literally goes above and beyond to inspire the next generation of explorers and innovators.

We were honored to recognize Amy in 2023 with the Trailblazing STEM Educator Award in partnership with Challenger Center. Amy stood out due to her tireless work every day to empower students in STEM – especially those who are traditionally underserved and underrepresented. She’s given her students the chance to participate in real space experiences, leading more than 60 space experiments including developing and flying biometric sensors and performing in-flight 3D printing on a parabolic zero-gravity flight.

As a middle and high school teacher at Odyssey Academy Galveston, in Galveston, Texas, Amy is also an AIAA Educator Associate Member. Teachers like Amy are invaluable – not only to their local communities but to the space community as a whole.

Amy’s lessons are launchpads for her students’ dreams, giving them every opportunity to see their potential. Certainly, her students’ dreams were onboard with her today. What an inspiration!

AIAA applauds Blue Origin on continuing to open up access to space to more people, totaling nearly 60 commercial astronauts so far. We salute the countless aerospace professionals whose expertise has brought the New Shepard fully reusable, suborbital rocket system to this point. Reusability is the future of launch.”

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. Visit www.aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on X/Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

 

Saab Gripen E Jet Completes First AI-controlled Flight Tests

Aerotime reports, “Saab has completed a series of flight tests integrating artificial intelligence into its Gripen E fighter jet, the company announced on June 11, 2025. Conducted in partnership with the German-based defense AI firm Helsing, the flights over the Baltic Sea saw the AI agent, named Centaur, take autonomous control of the aircraft during simulated Beyond Visual Range (BVR) combat scenarios.”
Full Story (Aerotime)