Tag: engineering

Boeing to Build 15 Additional KC-46A Tankers for U.S. Air Force

Reuters reports, “Boeing said on Thursday it has secured a $2.38 billion contract from the U.S. Air Force to build 15 additional KC-46A Pegasus aerial refueling tankers under the Lot 11 procurement. Boeing now has 168 KC-46A tankers on contract globally. Since 2019, Boeing has delivered 89 KC-46As to the U.S. Air Force and four to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.”
Full Story (Reuters)

AIAA to Honor Aerospace Award Winners at the 2025 AIAA SciTech Forum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 22, 2024 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) will bestow awards to over 20 aerospace innovators who made an impact on the industry over the past year during the 2025 AIAA SciTech Forum, 6–10 January 2025, Orlando, Fla. The awards will be presented during the forum at a special Awards Recognition Ceremony, 6 January, 5:30 p.m. Forum registration is available now. Journalists can request a Press Pass here.

“Congratulations to this year’s award winners! These exceptional individuals are highly regarded and have been chosen by their peers. They have not only advanced aeronautics and astronautics, but are also inspiring the next generation of professionals,” said AIAA CEO Clay Mowry. “We are immensely grateful for their contributions. They are truly shaping the future of aerospace.”

For more information about the AIAA Honors and Awards program, contact Patricia A. Carr at [email protected].

GRADUATE AWARDS

2024 Abe M. Zarem Graduate Award for Distinguished Achievement in Astronautics
This award was established by AIAA Honorary Fellow Abe Zarem, founder and managing director of Frontier Associates, to annually recognize graduate students in aeronautics and astronautics who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship in their field.

Mohammed Abir Mahdi
Oklahoma State University

Shafi Al Salman Romeo
Oklahoma State University

For their paper “Convolutional Neural Network and Homogenization based Hybrid Approach for Lattice Structures”

Advisor:  Zhao Wei, Oklahoma State University

LITERARY AWARDS

2025 AIAA Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award
The award is presented for the best original contribution to the field of aeronautical or astronautical non-fiction literature published in the last five years dealing with the science, technology, and/or impact of aeronautics or astronautics on society.

Michael W. Hankins
Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
Flying Camelot: The F-15, the F-16, and the Weaponization of Fighter Pilot Nostalgia

2025 AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award
The award is presented for an outstanding contribution or contributions to aeronautical and astronautical literature in the relatively recent past.

Joseph M. Powers
University of Notre Dame
Mechanics of Fluids

SERVICE AWARD

2025 AIAA Mary W. Jackson Diversity and Inclusion Award
This award recognizes an individual or group within AIAA who has devoted time and effort and made significant contributions to the advancement of diversity and inclusion within the Institute.

Karen A. Thole
University of Michigan
For her sustained significant contributions to raise awareness on the value of diversity and inclusion in the aerospace workforce at large, an AIAA core value.

TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS

2024 AIAA–ASEE J. Leland Atwood Award
This award is bestowed upon an outstanding aerospace engineering educator in recognition of the educator’s contributions to the profession. This award is co-sponsored by the ASEE Aerospace Division and AIAA.

Stephen D. Heister
Purdue University
For his transformative impact on the aerospace industry in revitalizing Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratory, and mentoring leaders currently developing advanced rocket and airbreathing propulsion systems.

2025 AIAA–ASC James H. Starnes Jr. Award
This award is presented to recognize continued significant contribution to and demonstrated promotion of the field of structural mechanics over an extended period of time emphasizing practical solutions, to acknowledge high professionalism, and to acknowledge the strong mentoring of and influence on colleagues.

Paul M. Weaver
University of Limerick, Ireland
University of Bristol, United Kingdom
For his outstanding contribution in the field of composite structures and his supportive and inspirational mentoring of young academics and professionals.

2025 AIAA Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Award
This award is presented to recognize outstanding sustained contributions and achievements in enabling technologies and/or the integration of technologies for system applications in the advancement of hypersonic flight.

Gary Polansky
Sandia National Laboratories (retired)
In recognition for decades of technical leadership in pioneering U.S. hypersonic boost-glide vehicle development and testing in service of the national defense.

2025 AIAA Information Systems Award
This award is presented to recognize outstanding technical and/or management contributions in space and aeronautics for computer, sensing, and fusion aspects of information technology and science.

Radhakrishna Sampigethaya
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
For his pioneering work and research in aviation cybersecurity in the areas of developing aircraft and air traffic control systems countermeasures, educating the current and next-generation workforce, and enhancing aerospace safety and security.

2025 AIAA Ashley Award for Aeroelasticity
This award recognizes outstanding contributions to the understanding and application of aeroelastic phenomena. It commemorates the accomplishments of Professor Holt Ashley, who dedicated his professional life to the advancement of aerospace sciences and engineering and had a profound impact on the fields of aeroelasticity, unsteady aerodynamics, aeroservoelasticity and multidisciplinary optimization.

Mordechay Karpel
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
For outstanding contributions to structural dynamics, aeroelasticity, and aeroservoelasticity, including engineering leadership, research innovations, influential publications, development of industrial software, and mentoring of aerospace professionals.

2025 AIAA de Florez Award for Flight Simulation
This award is presented for an outstanding individual achievement in the application of flight simulation to aerospace training, research, and development.

Heinrich H. Bülthoff
Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Germany
For groundbreaking research into how the brain processes multisensory perceptual information and the application of this knowledge for developing revolutionary new motion simulation technologies.

2025 AIAA Air Breathing Propulsion Award
This award is presented to an individual for sustained, meritorious accomplishment in the arts, sciences, and technology of air breathing propulsion systems.

Zoltán S. Spakovszky
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
For outstanding and sustained contributions to air breathing propulsion, through rigorous discoveries and advancements in compressor aerodynamic and aerostructural stability and in aeroengine acoustics.

2025 AIAA Aerospace Power Systems Award
This award, established in 1981, is presented for a significant contribution in the broad field of aerospace power systems, specifically as related to the application of engineering sciences and systems engineering to the generation, storage, management, and distribution of electrical energy to aerospace power systems.

Margot Wasz
The Aerospace Corporation (retired)
For exceptional technical contributions to advanced spacecraft battery power systems, outstanding service to the mission success of high-value United States Space Force launch vehicle systems, and transformational leadership of AIAA space power activities.

2025 AIAA Energy Systems Award
This award honors a significant contribution in the broad field of energy systems, specifically as related to the application of engineering sciences and systems engineering to the production, storage, distribution, and conservation of energy.

Ying Zheng
Western University
For remarkable contributions in advancing applied catalysis for clean and renewable energy innovations through exceptional dedication to research, education and application.

2025 AIAA Mechanics and Control of Flight Award
This award is presented for an outstanding recent technical or scientific contribution by an individual in the mechanics, guidance, or control of flight in space or the atmosphere.

Ilya Kolmanovsky
University of Michigan
For significant contributions to advances in theory and methods enabling development of reference governors and model predictive control algorithms enforcing safety constraints in aerospace systems.

2025 AIAA Propellants and Combustion Award
This award is presented for outstanding technical contributions to aeronautical or astronautical combustion engineering.

Robert P. Lucht
Purdue University
For numerous contributions to combustion, propulsion, and power generation through innovative development of advanced laser diagnostics and applying them to practical energy systems.

2025 AIAA Wyld Propulsion Award
This award is presented for outstanding achievement in the development or application of rocket propulsion systems.

Alon Gany
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
For pioneering contributions in propulsion research on metalized propellants, energetic materials, hybrid rockets, ramjets, and scramjets, with sustained excellence in educating generations of propulsion experts.

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

Textron to Provide Drone-Enabled ISR Support for US Navy’s 5th and 6th Fleets

The Defense Post reports, “The US Navy has awarded Textron Systems $64 million in contracts to provide drone-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services for ships of the 5th and 6th fleets. The contractor-owned, contractor-operated (COCO) deals stipulate the deployment of the firm’s Aerosonde small expeditionary unmanned aerial system (UAS) with enhanced mission payloads as well as skilled personnel to aid a variety of the vessels’ maritime ISR tasks.”
Full Story (The Defense Post)

AIAA Statement on Sixth SpaceX Starship Test Flight

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 20, 2024 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) issued the following statement from AIAA CEO Clay Mowry:

“Congratulations to the SpaceX team on its sixth test flight of Starship. We’re following with anticipation SpaceX’s progress through its rapid, iterative testing of this new launch vehicle. The engineering advances demonstrated by the SpaceX team are accelerating our return to the moon and traveling to Mars. We know the team is learning valuable lessons from the engineering data gathered during this sixth test flight.

AIAA recognizes the countless industry professionals who have helped design, build, and test Starship. We applaud AIAA Corporate Member SpaceX for taking this step forward in shaping the future of aerospace.”

Media contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270

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

SpaceX Launches Super Heavy-Starship on Sixth Test Flight

Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX launched the world’s most powerful rocket on its sixth test flight Tuesday, an up-and-down trip to space by a gargantuan Super Heavy-Starship to evaluate a variety of safety and performance upgrades. Shattering the afternoon calm with an ear-splitting roar, the huge 30-foot-wide, 397-foot-tall rocket blasted off from Musk’s sprawling Boca Chica, Texas, manufacturing and test facility on the Gulf Coast near Brownsville at 5 p.m. EST, the opening of a 30-minute launch window.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

 

Video

SpaceX launches Starship on 6th test flight, November 19, 2024 (Launch at 1:29:33 mark)
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)

General Atomics Gray Eagle STOL Performs First Ship-to-Land Flight

Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), in collaboration with South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace, has achieved a significant milestone with the Gray Eagle STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). On November 12, 2024, the Gray Eagle STOL successfully launched from the South Korean Navy’s amphibious landing ship Dokdo and completed its flight with a smooth landing at Pohang Navy Airfield.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab Searching for New Director

SpacePolicyOnline.com reports, “The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is seeking a new director to succeed Ralph Semmel who will retire next summer. JHUAPL encompasses four sectors:  Air and Missile Defense, Asymmetric Operations, Force Projection, and Space.  The space sector has built and operated many spacecraft for DOD and NASA with more on the way including Dragonfly, an octocopter that will fly over the dunes of Saturn’s moon Titan.”
Full Story (SpacePolicyOnline.com)

2025 AIAA Durand Lectureship for Public Service Awarded to The Boeing Company’s Kevin G. Bowcutt

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lecture Set for 6 January During 2025 AIAA SciTech Forum

November 18, 2024 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the 2025 AIAA Durand Lectureship for Public Service is awarded to Kevin G. Bowcutt, Principal Senior Technical Fellow and Chief Scientist of Hypersonics for The Boeing Company, Huntington Beach, Calif.

 

Bowcutt will deliver his lecture, “The Evolution of Hypersonic Flight Over Seven Decades and the Technical Breakthroughs that Got Us Here,” on Monday, 6 January, 3:30 p.m. ET, during the 2025 AIAA SciTech Forum, Orlando, Florida. 2025 AIAA SciTech Forum registration is available now. Journalists can request a Press Pass here.

Bowcutt is a Principal Senior Technical Fellow & Chief Scientist of Hypersonics for Boeing with 42 years of experience. He is an AIAA Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In 2021 he was selected by Texas A&M to be a Fellow of the Hagler Institute of Advanced Study. He holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland. Bowcutt is an internationally recognized expert in hypersonic aerodynamics, propulsion integration, and vehicle design and optimization, and leads Boeing’s hypersonic vehicle advanced design and technology development efforts.

Bowcutt’s lecture will chronicle the major milestones that have enabled air-breathing hypersonic flight, bringing future promise to current capability, and leading to worldwide pursuit of hypersonic capabilities and leadership. Hypersonic flight has the potential to dramatically impact national defense, and significantly improve the speed of global travel and the frequency and cost of space access. For more than 50 years following the first hypersonic flight in 1949, expendable rocket propulsion was the only available means of accelerating vehicles to hypersonic speed, limiting applications to costly expendable spaceflight and military missiles. Although it took more than 40 years of dedicated R&D, the idea conceived in 1957 of a more efficient air-breathing engine employing supersonic combustion, the scramjet, was finally proven viable in 2004 by flying on NASA’s X-43A. Almost 10 years later, in 2013, hypersonic air-breathing propulsion was proven practical by flying a dual-mode ramjet on the USAF/DARPA X-51 Scramjet Engine Demonstrator. These achievements were enabled by continuous advancements in high-temperature materials; test facilities, test techniques, and test campaigns; scramjet technologies, such as air intakes, isolators, injectors, mixers, flame holders, combustion chemistry, and nozzles; fluid dynamic and thermostructural simulation; and multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization.

The Durand Lectureship for Public Service, named in honor of William F. Durand, Ph.D., is presented for notable achievements by a scientific or technical leader whose contributions have led directly to the understanding and application of the science and technology of aeronautics and astronautics for the betterment of humanity. Durand was a United States naval officer and a pioneer in mechanical engineering. During his remarkable 99-year life, Durand contributed significantly to the development of aircraft propellers. He was the first civilian chair of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the forerunner of NASA.

The Institute’s Public Policy Committee takes pride in selecting accomplished leaders in aeronautics and astronautics for this honor who can share their knowledge through the Durand Lecture for Public Service. For more information about the AIAA Honors and Awards program, contact Patricia A. Carr at [email protected].

Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, APR, [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 aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.