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.
Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX has test fired its Raptor rocket engine at its Rocket Development and Test Facility, in McGregor, Texas. The Raptor is designed to power the Super Heavy first stage and Starship second stage launch vehicles.
The Swarm and Search AI Challenge: 2019 Fire Hack challenge will culminate in a March 2019 showdown and explore methods for planning complex UAS or “drone” swarm operations.
While GE Aviation’s T700 turboshaft engine has powered the U.S. Army’s Apache and Sikorsky helicopters for more than 46 years, the U.S. Army will replace the T700 with GE Aviation’s fully modular T901-GE-900 engine as part of the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase of the U.S. Army’s Improved Turbine Engine Program.
The AS2 from Aerion in Reno, Nevada, will be the first supersonic business jet to market, Boeing officials in Chicago predict. Boeing (NYSE:BA) is providing engineering, industrial, and financial resources in partnership with Aerion to accelerate technology development and aircraft design, with the goal of bringing supersonic air travel to new markets.
Aerospace and defense, industrial automation and robotics, rail transportation, and other organizations which often struggle to support long-life platforms and systems stand to benefit from a new approach to obsolete and end-of-life (EOL) components. GDCA Inc. in Livermore, California, is working with Abaco Systems Inc. in Huntsville, Alabama, “to provide a sustainment path for customers with very long equipment life cycles,” GDCA CEO Ethan Plotkin explains.
Nano Graphene Inc. dba GrapheneCA (“GrapheneCA”) has cut the time and cost of developing graphene-enhanced advanced composites by using neural networks to extrapolate material data from a single sample.
The X-59 utilizes a long and slender airframe to achieve supersonic speeds without causing a high decibel sonic boom. The unconventional design precludes the use of a forward-looking window or viewport. Collins Aerospace is providing a dual multi-spectral enhanced vision system to give pilots a forward view of the airspace.