After taking off on July 11 in Arizona, the Zephyr S unmanned aircraft from Airbus Defence and Space logged a maiden flight of over 25 days – the longest-duration flight ever made without refueling.
Later this month, Dassault Aviation SA and Airbus SE will begin work on a first-ever joint concept study (JCS) to develop a new highly capable, manned “New Generation Fighter” (NGF) aircraft for France and Germany’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program. The aircraft concept is currently categorized as a “sixth-generation” fighter.
Less than one year after delivering its first A350 XWB (-900), Airbus has started assembling the first major fuselage components at its plants in Hamburg and Saint-Nazaire.
With its European base and global presence, it would only make sense that Airbus would take a leading role in the EU’s CleanSky 2, a joint technology initiative that is the follow-up to the CleanSky aerospace research program.
The A321neo 97t will have, with 4000 nmi, the longest range of any single aisle airliner “available today and tomorrow,” claims Airbus, making it suited to transatlantic routes.
The company is well on its way increasing its market presence, with worldwide military products that include 1800 aircraft sold to 70 countries, with 145 operators and over 5 million flight hours accumulated.
Lighter than traditional metallic wiring, with much higher bandwidths, fiber optic cables are integrated throughout an aircraft in systems that include taxi aid cameras, head-up displays, in-flight entertainment, cockpit systems, and other key components.
Airbus intends to closely cooperate with start-ups in order to unlock new technologies in artificial intelligence, data analytics, and cyber security for France and Germany’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program.
Officials at an as-yet-unnamed airline in the U.S. is assessing a new hydrophobic coating developed by GKN Aerospace materials science and engineering specialists in Garden Grove, Calif., for cockpit windows on its commercial passenger aircraft. GKN Aerospace debuted the new materials science technology, which Airbus engineers are also flight-trialing on the airframe manufacturer’s flight-test aircraft, during Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, England, in July 2018.
Airbus SE is shifting its Connected Experience cabin concept into the first stages of reality with cooperative buy-in from gategroup Holding AG, Stelia Aerospace, and Recaro Aircraft Seating. Up until the partnership announcement, Airbus had been collecting extensive market feedback and refining its Internet of Things (IoT) approach to aircraft interiors, with real-time interconnected galleys, in-flight service carts, seats, and overhead bins.
The Airbus Quantum Computing Challenge (AQCC) was initiated by the Toulouse-based aerospace corporation to bring quantum computing out of laboratories and apply it directly to challenges facing the aviation industry. The global competition is open to post-graduate students, academics, researchers, and professionals.
In aircraft maintenance and repair, eddy current devices have long been used to nondestructively test (NDT) wheels, struts, propellers, airframes, hubs, engine components, and other parts for flaws, such as cracks, fatigue, or corrosion in a variety of metals, including aluminum and steel alloys. Multiple eddy current test instruments are traditionally used to address the full scope of work, which can involve inspecting surfaces, welds, tubing, and bolt holes.
Aircraft orders exceed $95 billion in value and are complemented by roughly $3 billion in aircraft engine and engine service agreement contracts announced in the first two days of the 2018 Farnborough International Airshow. “The future starts at Farnborough; our exhibition halls are full of innovation that will shape how we fly, enabling us to go further, faster, and with less environmental impact,” says Farnborough International Commercial Director Amanda Stainer.
Aireon LLC, a global aircraft tracking and surveillance company in McLean, Va., is inviting aircraft operators, regulators, search-and-rescue organizations, and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) to pre-register for Aireon Aircraft Locating and Emergency Response Tracking (ALERT). Aireon ALERT, operated by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), is being touted as the aviation industry’s first and only free, global, real-time emergency aircraft location service, which is slated to begin service in Q1 2019.