Defense One reports the U.S. has publicly confirmed that it maintains space-control weapons in orbit, a rare acknowledgment of operational military capabilities in space. According to Defense One, some experts warn the disclosure could “accelerate an arms race in orbit,” highlighting concerns about the future security environment beyond Earth.
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Tag: Reveals
Navy Details Plans for Carrier-Based Collaborative Combat Aircraft
Defense Daily reports the U.S. Navy is offering new insight into its plans for a future carrier-based Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). A notice published this week “revealed several details of what the service is seeking,” including plans to test two fully functional unmanned autonomous prototype air vehicles.
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Boeing Reports Strong April With 57 Widebody Orders
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.”
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Lockheed’s Skunk Works Unveils Vectis Stealth Drone
Breaking Defense reports, “Lockheed Martin’s secretive Skunk Works advanced development arm has unveiled a new project — a stealthy autonomous drone it calls Vectis that Lockheed intends to fly by the end of 2027. The first Vectis prototype is currently ‘in progress,’ but is envisioned as a large ‘Category 5’ reusable drone designed to be customizable to match shifts in the threat environment, said OJ Sanchez, Skunk Works’s vice president and general manager.”
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Blue Origin Announces Passengers for 12th Space Tourism Launch
SPACE reports that Blue Origin has revealed the identities of the six passengers who will fly on the company’s 12th human spaceflight mission. A target date has “yet to be announced.”
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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.”
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Jaunt Air Mobility Unveils Plans for Hybrid Cargo Drone
Aviation Week reports, “Jaunt Air Mobility has revealed plans to go to the market with an uncrewed, hybrid version of its Journey electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) compound helicopter.”
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Aurora Unveils Updated High-Speed VTOL X-Plane Concept for DARPA
Aviation Week reports, “Aurora Flight Sciences has unveiled a refined concept for a fan-in-wing high-speed vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft as it receives funding to proceed to a preliminary design review under a DARPA project to fly an X-plane demonstrator.”
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BAE Systems Reveals Autonomous Collaborative Platform Demonstrator
FlightGlobal reports, “BAE Systems has revealed the design of an autonomous collaborative platform (ACP) demonstrator which it aims to fly within the next two years.” Showcased as “a sub-scale model at the World Defense Show near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the aircraft builds on the company’s earlier work in designing a Concept 2 vehicle unveiled in July 2022.” According to Steve Reeves, head of business development and strategy (platforms) at BAE’s FalconWorks technology accelerator, “We have been carrying on our many decades of investment in uncrewed systems, and are displaying our latest iteration of an ACP concept.” Roles for the platform “could include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and electronic attack, with the asset also potentially to carry air-to-surface and air-to-air weapons within two internal bays.”
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FAA Reveals Wing’s Drone Delivery Network Plans
Aviation Week reported that plans to “expand Wing’s drone delivery network throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area have been revealed in a draft environmental assessment released by the FAA for public comment.” The plans would “expand Wing’s operating bases, or ‘nests,’ from three to as many as 25 across the metroplex.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)