Aviation Week reports, “Boeing booked 109 unidentified orders in April, including commitments for 57 widebodies, the company said May 12. The unidentified orders, released as part of its monthly orders and deliveries report, comprise 28 777Xs, 29 787s and 52 737 MAXs.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Tag: new
Call for Nominations for AIAA’s New 30/30 Recognition Program for Exceptional Young Professionals
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2026 – Reston, Va. – AIAA is pleased to announce its 30/30 Recognition Program for young professionals who embody excellence and innovation across the aerospace sector. AIAA will recognize 30 individuals in their 30s who are advancing aerospace through meaningful technical achievement, innovation and leadership early in their careers.
Nominations are now being accepted through 15 June 2026.
“30/30 builds on AIAA’s record of excellence in recognizing standout leaders in aerospace,” said AIAA CEO Clay Mowry. “This new program celebrates the next generation’s ingenuity. They are the future leaders and technical pioneers in our profession.”
This program’s timing comes as the aerospace industry continues to face a talent gap. The increasing demand for new technologically skilled workers is outpacing the supply of graduates. This problem compounded by an aging workforce and fierce competition for engineering talent from the technology sector.
AIAA has aligned the program with the Institute’s six technical divisions – Aerospace Design and Structures; Aerospace Sciences; Aircraft Technology, Integration, and Operations; Information Systems; Propulsion and Energy; and Space and Missiles. 30/30 also features a seventh grouping for nominations that don’t fit into the other categories.
AIAA will profile the top recipient from each category in the October–December print issue of its Aerospace America magazine, while all honorees will be recognized in the digital issue. In addition, they will enjoy one complimentary year of AIAA membership, one free registration to an AIAA forum or event in 2027, and exclusive leadership and engagement opportunities at AIAA events. These visibility opportunities include speaking at the Rising Stars in Aerospace sessions for mentoring and inspiring university students, and Rising Leaders in Aerospace sessions for peer networking and professional development.
*Consideration will also be given to nominees who are younger than 30 who have made notable accomplishments in their careers.
Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
About AIAA
AIAA is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With more than 33,000 individual members from 91 countries, and over 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. Visit www.aiaa.org or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and X.
Russia Debuts Next-Generation Soyuz 5 Rocket with First Successful Flight
SPACE reports, “Russia’s new Soyuz 5 rocket has taken to the skies at long last. The Soyuz 5 lifted off for the first time ever on Thursday (April 30), rising off a pad at the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:00 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT; 11:00 p.m. local time in Baikonur).”
Full Story (SPACE)
Video
Launch of the new Soyuz-5 rocket (Launch occurs at the 21:14 mark)
Мир авиации; YouTube
From the Institute: AIAA Announces New Student Branches
FROM THE INSTITUTE
AIAA is pleased to announce it has provisionally chartered five new student branches at the AIAA Council of Directors meeting during AIAA SciTech Forum 2026 in Orlando, Florida.
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.
DARPA Announces 2026 X-plane Competition for New Uncrewed Cargo Drone
Flight Global reports, “The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to launch the Lift Challenge in 2026, seeking novel designs for uncrewed aircraft that can carry payloads more than four times their own weight.”
U.S. Army Selects AeroVironment’s Freedom Eagle-1 as New Counter-Drone Interceptor
The War Zone reports, “The U.S. Army has picked AeroVironment to supply a new anti-air interceptor, primarily to provide an additional layer of defense against longer-range one-way attack drones and other similarly-sized uncrewed aerial systems (UAS). Designed to be relatively low-cost and easy to produce, the Freedom Eagle-1(FE-1) missile could also be employed against other aerial threats, including subsonic cruise missiles, in certain circumstances.”
Full Story (The War Zone)
Video
Freedom Eagle (FE-1).
BlueHalo; YouTube
Executive Order Aims to Advance Space Industry by Reducing Environmental Regulation
Defense One reports, “The U.S. government must reduce environmental and other regulations to make it easier for commercial space companies to launch rockets, expand launch facilities, and perform “novel” space activities, according to a new executive order. “It is the policy of the United States to enhance American greatness in space by enabling a competitive launch marketplace and substantially increasing commercial space launch cadence and novel space activities by 2030,” says the order, signed Wednesday by President Donald Trump.”
Full Story (Defense One)
Joby Tested a New Large Hydrogen-powered Drone
Aerotime reports, “Advanced air mobility developer Joby Aviation appears to have tested a large long-endurance hydrogen-powered drone, according to investigative news outlet Hunterbrook, which first reported on this development. Hunterbrook has also published some pictures that were taken from a distance, which seems to confirm this hypothesis.”
Full Story (Aerotime)
New Avionics Tech Enabling Rapid Emergence of Advanced Air Mobility
Avionics International reports, “Once a speculative concept reserved for futurists, Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is now rapidly emerging as a practical reality, thanks largely to revolutionary developments in avionics. From electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to highly automated flight control systems, avionics is the nerve center of this next-generation ecosystem, orchestrating the delicate balance of safety, autonomy, and sustainability. AAM seeks to redefine how people and goods move across urban and regional landscapes. Instead of being confined to traditional runways or existing air corridors, new aircraft designs such as eVTOLs are built to operate flexibly within dense environments.”
Full Story (Avionics International)