Tag: May 2025

SpaceX Tests Raptor Engines That Will Power Next Starship Rocket

Ars Technica reports, “SpaceX fired six Raptor engines on the company’s next Starship rocket Monday, clearing a major hurdle on the path to launch later this month on a high-stakes test flight to get the private rocket program back on track. Starship ignited its Raptor engines Monday morning on a test stand near SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility in South Texas.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)

U.S. Army to Substantially Increase Its Use of Drones

The Wall Street Journal reports, “The U.S. Army is embarking on its largest overhaul since the end of the Cold War, with plans to equip each of its combat divisions with around 1,000 drones and to shed outmoded weapons and other equipment. The plan, the product of more than a year of experimentation at this huge training range in Bavaria and other U.S. bases, draws heavily on lessons from the war in Ukraine, where small unmanned aircraft used in large numbers have transformed the battlefield.”
Full Story (Wall Street Journal – Subscription Publication)

NASA Astronauts Perform 5th All-Female Spacewalk Outside International Space Station

AP News reports, “An astronaut who missed out on the first all-female spacewalk because of a spacesuit sizing issue got her chance six years later on Thursday. NASA’s Anne McClain emerged from the International Space Station alongside Nichole Ayers. Both military officers and pilots, they launched to the orbiting lab in March to replace NASA’s two stuck astronauts, who are now back home.”
Full Story (AP News)

Amazon Prime Air Plans First Drone Delivery Service in a Major U.S. City

Flying Magazine reports, “Less than one month after resuming drone delivery following a voluntary two-month operational hiatus, Amazon’s Prime Air is eyeing its first service in a major U.S. city. Amazon spokesperson Andy DiOrio told the Kansas City Star that Prime Air is considering moving into the Missouri metroplex. Kansas City would represent the company’s third and largest operation. Its population of half a million people dwarfs the number of customers it could reach with its other services in College Station, Texas, and Tolleson, Arizona.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)

DARPA Asking Private Industry for Lunar Orbiter Capable of Searching for Water

SPACE reports, “DARPA (the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is looking for a private company to build spacecraft to orbit the moon and search for water. A program solicitation that DARPA released on April 14 outlines the plan for the LASSO (Lunar Assay via Small Satellite Orbiter) program, with the goal of developing a system of one or several affordable satellites.”
Full Story (SPACE)

SpaceX Receives FAA Approval to Increase Rate of Starship Launches from Texas

Reuters reports, “SpaceX received key U.S. regulatory approval on Tuesday to increase the annual rate of Starship rocket launches from Texas and booster landings in various bodies of water, allowing” the space company “to significantly expand development of its giant Mars rocket … The Federal Aviation Administration, capping a years-long review, said SpaceX’s proposal to increase the number of Texas Starship launches from five to 25 would not have a major impact on the surrounding environment, nor would associated booster landings or potential rocket explosions over the Gulf of Mexico and some international waters.”
Full Story (Reuters)

Whisper Aero Unveils ‘Collaborative Logistics Aircraft’ Family

Aviation International News reports, “Whisper Aero, a U.S. start-up developing quiet electric propulsion systems, revealed a family of autonomous aircraft concepts for contested logistics missions on May 6 during the Special Operations Forces (SOF) Week event held in Tampa, Florida. With funding from the U.S. Air Force, Whisper said it will spend the next four years building and flying multiple full-scale prototypes as it strives to bring the technology into service on a program of record.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)

KC-46 Deliveries on Track to Resume Next Week

Breaking Defense reports, “Following a suspension of deliveries in late February, the US Air Force is ready to accept new KC-46A Pegasus refueling tankers from manufacturing Boeing as soon as next week, according to the service’s top acquisition official. During a hearing held by the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee today, Darlene Costello, who is performing the duties of the Air Force’s acquisition chief, said the service and Boeing “have identified the root cause” of a cracking issue that has held up deliveries, and that officials have “begun the process to resume deliveries.” The first delivery is expected next week, she added.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)

Sierra Space Marks Third Testing Milestone on Resilient GPS (R-GPS) Technology for USSF

Inside GNSS reports, “Sierra Space, a leading commercial space company and defense tech prime  announced today another successful demonstration of the company’s Resilient GPS (R-GPS) technology for the U.S. Space Force (USSF). In this third milestone, Sierra Space demonstrated an early integration of the R-GPS satellite technology through FlatSat flight software and hardware subsystem testing, in addition to successful communication with ground software.”
Full Story (Inside GNSS)

Aurora Flight Sciences Extends sUAS Range with New Upgrades

Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “Aurora Flight Sciences has begun production of the latest version of its SKIRON-XGroup 2 uncrewed aircraft system (UAS), incorporating upgrades aimed at improving flight performance and operational usability. Now in its third generation, SKIRON-X sUAS received avionics and ground control station (GCS) upgrades, an improved nose cone design, and an optional long-range radio.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)

Soviet Venus Lander Kosmos 482 Crashes Into Sea After 53 Years in Orbit

SPACE reports, “A failed Soviet Venus lander’s long space odyssey has come to an end. The Kosmos 482 probe crashed to Earth today (May 10) after circling our planet for more than five decades. Reentry occurred at 2:24 a.m. ET (0624 GMT or 9:24 a.m. Moscow time) over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Russia’s space agency Roscosmos. Kosmos 482 appears to have fallen harmlessly into the sea.”
Full Story (SPACE)

Vertical Aerospace Announces Development of Long-Range Hybrid Air-Taxi Variant of its VX4

Reuters reports, “Vertical Aerospace said on Monday it is developing a long-range hybrid-electric variant of its air-taxi VX4, aiming to expand into commercial markets including defense and logistics. U.S.-listed shares of the British electric aircraft firm rose more than 6% before the bell.”
Full Story (Reuters)

 

Video

VX4 eVTOL Test Flight
Vertical Aerospace

Air Force Says F-47 to Have 70% Better Combat Radius than F-22

Defense One reports, “The Air Force’s F-47 fighter jet will fly some 70 percent farther without refueling than today’s F-22s, allowing tankers to stay farther from the fray—a key advantage in a potential Pacific conflict. The planned sixth-generation fighter will have a combat radius of more than 1,000 nautical miles, according to an infographic posted Tuesday on X by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin. Combat radius refers to the distance an aircraft can travel and still have enough fuel to return to its base without refueling.”
Full Story (Defense One)

DIU Expands Vendor Pool for ‘Hybrid Space Architecture’ Program

Breaking Defense reports, “The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has added 13 more companies to its pool of contractors developing an ambitious multi-agency effort to create a multi-orbit, public-private satellite communications (SATCOM) network largely impervious to jamming — with the goal of launching a pilot in 2026. The move, announced Monday by DIU, brings the total number of companies, ranging from software startups to big defense primes, participating in the ‘Hybrid Space Architecture’ program to 25.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)

Draft Documents Indicate Pentagon Considering Big Changes to ICBM, Drone Wingmen programs in FY25

Breaking Defense reports, “Following the passage of a year-long continuing resolution (CR) in March, the Pentagon has considered big changes for marquee Air Force programs like the service’s new nuclear ICBM and futuristic drone wingmen, according to draft budgetary documents. The draft spending plan, which was previously reported by other outlets and obtained by Breaking Defense, includes a proposal for the Air Force to slash over a billion dollars in planned spending for the troubled Sentinel ICBM and funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into the Collaborative Combat Aircraft drone program.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)

Horizon Aircraft Achieves Milestone with X7 eVTOL Forward Flight

Aerotime reports, “Canadian-based Horizon Aircraft, an advanced aerospace engineering company which is currently developing what will become one of the world’s first hybrid eVTOL aircraft, announced on May 15, 2025, that the large-scale test prototype of its Cavorite X7 aircraft has achieved its first full-wing transition, successfully making the transition from vertical to forward flight – a major milestone in the development of any VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Landing) aircraft.”
Full Story (Aerotime)



Video

Horizon Aircraft’s Cavorite X7 A
(Techno Thunder; YouTube)