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How long until the robots start taking joyrides?

Already the best mass air defense/counter drone platform and the best platform to control strike drones like the Thunder from (or just launch Red Wolfs themselves) an AESA radar would catapult the Apache even farther ahead of everything else except a similarly equipped AH-1Z at these roles.

GE Aerospace has flown its modified Saab 340B megawatt-class hybrid-electric testbed at 30,000 ft., representing a milestone for an electric propulsion system operating at standard commercial airline altitudes.

Global air traffic growth in 2026 will be more than halved compared to earlier predictions because of the Iran war, Boeing says, though the company forecasts a faster‑than‑usual recovery that will return passenger traffic to its long‑term growth trajectory by the end of 2028.

The launch will mark Delta’s return to the Philippines after a seven-year absence. The airline previously served Manila from Tokyo Narita Airport, ending the fifth freedom route in March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic.

As JetZero’s blended wing body (BWB) demonstrator takes shape, the airframer is touting a new milestone for future certification, as it targets a commercial entry into service in the early 2030s.

FRANKFURT—SAS Scandinavian Airlines has placed an order for 18 Airbus A330neos in a bid to expand its long-haul network and build a third hub in the future Air France-KLM Group.

Delta Air Lines is installing drag-reducing finlets across its fleet of 240 Boeing 737-800s and -900ERs following an extensive in-service evaluation with developer Vortex Control Technologies that validated a 1.2% reduction in fuel burn from the modification.

The prototype S4-T made its first flight at Marina, California, on Nov. 7, and on April 16 Joby posted a video on YouTube showing the aircraft taking off vertically and rapidly transitioning to wingborne horizontal flight.

After false start dart plays crucial part.

As the megawatt project moves forward, the Army is close to capitalizing on a seven-year investment plan. The service has demonstrated four types of defensive lasers since 2019:

Aside from the widely publicized acceleration of the MV-75 Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft tiltrotor for the U.S. Army, the airframer has also seen market interest rise across its commercial, dual-use product portfolio—and the 505 JetRanger X and 412 medium-twin in particular, CEO Danny Maldonado told Aviation Week ahead of the Vertical Aviation International (VAI) Verticon rotorcraft expo in Atlanta.

“We never changed the requirements after the first four or five design iterations—the airplane looked basically the same,” Coen says. “It was just a matter of figuring out how to do an X-plane again.” Following a preliminary design review in June 2017, a contract to build the aircraft was awarded to Lockheed Martin in April 2018, marking the start of the detailed design phase. The finalized external configuration, dubbed C612, was settled about the time of the critical design review in September 2019.

At present, Emirates is the only airline linking Rio to the Middle East, operating a daily Boeing 777-300ER service on a Dubai-Rio de Janeiro-Buenos Aires routing. The flight provides roughly 5,000 two-way seats per week and represents GIG’s sole direct connection to the Gulf. The airport currently has no nonstop services to Asia or Africa.

Months of delay in announcing a winner generated significant political and industrial tension. Last fall, Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani warned that the Yeovil facility could face closure without new UK government orders, arguing the company could not continue subsidizing the site indefinitely.

Pretty similar to last article I posted, but it is good timely info so…

When combining the helicopters with the other aircraft, manufacturers delivered aircraft valued at more than $35 billion in 2025, which Draper says is “the highest ever recorded.”

Europe had to do some heavy lifting to revitalize its space launch operations, but the first flight of the Ariane 64 rocket for marquee customer Amazon shifts the region fully from rebound into growth mode.

LONDON—British space-launch startup Orbex has made what seems like a last-minute push to generate appetite in its business as it faces closure, releasing previously unseen images of its Prime rocket.

The European Union (EU) plans to establish what it calls a Military Mobility Transport Group in a move that could be a boon to Airbus by paving the way for additional A400M orders.

The MRO-focused agreement, announced Feb. 19, builds on a 2024 partnership the two companies disclosed around potential work on the aircraft in India, which was followed in October 2025 by a strategic agreement around local production.

Electra has rebranded the capability, originally termed electric short-takeoff-and-landing (eSTOL). “We don’t talk eSTOL because this is not STOL—this is Ultra Short,” CEO Marc Allen says. “The difference in performance capabilities is so vast, it’s the equivalent of calling a STOL airplane a conventional airplane. We’re talking 150-ft. takeoff and landing rolls for a nine-passenger airplane. STOL in that category normally means 800-1,000 ft.—eSTOL mischaracterizes what we’re doing.”

Canadian startup Horizon Aircraft is simplifying the configuration of its full-scale fan-in-wing Cavorite X7 hybrid-electric VTOL prototype, assembly of which is now underway.

SINGAPORE—Virginia-based startup Tidal Flight has scooped orders and options for up to 10 of its nine to 12-passenger hybrid-electric Polaris amphibian aircraft from Indian seaplane operator Maritime Energy Heli Air Services (Mehair).