FlightGlobal reports “US advanced air mobility company Joby says it’s completed the third of the Federal Aviation Administration’s five-stage type certification process as it reports a 2023 full-year loss of $513 million.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal – Subscription Publication)
Tag: Completes
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)
Airbus Helicopters Uncrewed VSR700 Completes First Test Flight Campaign
Aviation Week reports that Airbus Helicopters’ uncrewed VSR700 rotorcraft “has completed its latest flight test campaign, demonstrating its ability to take off and land in fully automatic mode on a French Navy frigate.” The flight test campaign “took place Oct. 2-9 on board the Provence frigate off the Mediterranean coast.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
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)
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