Defense Daily reports, “Last week, the Air Force’s Experimental Operations Unit (EOU) at Nellis AFB, Nev., tested an Anduril Industries YFQ-44A Fury prototype Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), which flew from a company site in southern California to Edwards AFB, Calif., for the testing and back again, Anduril said on Thursday.”
Full Story (Defense Daily)
Tag: tests
U.S. Army Demonstrates Counter-UAS Capability Using AH-64E Apache
Aerotime reports, “The US Army’s 12th Combat Aviation Brigade (12th CAB) has used the AH-64E Apache in a counter-drone role during an exercise in Germany, in what the unit described as a first for the European theater. In a release published on March 19, 2026, the brigade said that soldiers from the 2-159th Attack Battalion had used the helicopter’s existing weapons to engage and destroy drones in air-to-air engagements during Operation Skyfall at the Grafenwoehr Training Area.”
Full Story (Aerotime)
U.S. Navy Tests Automated Weather Drones to Boost Maritime Forecasting
Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “Meteomatics, a weather intelligence company has collaborated with the U.S. Navy to trial automated weather drones, known as Meteodrones, for collecting atmospheric data vital in maritime operations. The trial, conducted as part of the Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) near Gulfport in the Mississippi Sound, marks a significant step toward enhancing operational readiness and safety for naval missions.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)
Video
Meteodrones
Meteomatics; YouTube
Mississippi State University Testing Aurora’s Tactical eVTOL Drone to Aid First Responders
Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “Researchers at Mississippi State University’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory are flying Aurora Flight Sciences drone, SKIRON-X, as part of a project designed to assist first responders. The Raspet Flight Research Laboratory is leading a groundbreaking initiative to advance Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for emergency response operations Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS). Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing company, provided its Group 2 UAS, SKIRON-X, as the project’s test platform.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)
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)
Airbus Completes Loading of Autonomous Helicopter in First Demo
Defense News reports, “Airbus U.S. Space and Defense has conducted its first demonstration as part of a program to build an autonomous, uncrewed version of the UH-72 Lakota transportation helicopter for the U.S. Marine Corps. The Lakota variant, which Airbus calls the UH-72 Logistics Connector, is the company’s bid for the Marines’ Aerial Logistics Connector program, senior manager for business development Carl Forsling said Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Washington.”
Full Story (Defense News)
SpaceX Starship Booster Caught by Launch Gantry During Landing
Aviation Week reports, “A SpaceX Super Heavy booster flew itself back to its Boca Chica Beach, Texas, launchpad where it was caught by a pair of mechanical arms on the gantry 7 min. after liftoff, nailing one of the primary goals of the fifth Starship-Super Heavy integrated flight test (IFT-5).”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
More Info (AIAA Statement)
Space Force to Test New Orbit-Switching Maneuver on X-37B Space Plane
Defense One reports, “A U.S. X-37B space plane is slated to test a new way of rapidly changing its orbit, part of the Space Force’s quest for fuel-sipping maneuverability. The spacecraft will experiment with aerobraking, which uses Earth’s atmosphere to slow down and switch orbits. “The use of the aerobraking maneuver—a series of passes using the drag of Earth’s atmosphere—enables the spacecraft to change orbits while expending minimal fuel,” the service said in a release today.”
Full Story (Defense One)
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
NASA Test Flights of Joby eVTOL Prove Low Noise Levels
Aviation International News reports that results “from recent NASA-backed flight tests with Joby’s eVTOL prototype demonstrate that noise from the four-passenger air taxi vehicle would be barely audible from city streets below.” While in flight, the Joby eVTOL “registered the equivalent of 45.2 dBA while cruising at an altitude of 1,640 feet at a speed of 115 mph.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)