Military Aviation

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, said last week it will develop a new X-Plane to pursue “radical improvements” in aircraft that can take off and land vertically, then shift to horizontal flight mode and reach speeds up to 400 knots. “The design envisions an aircraft that could fly fast and far, hover when […]

Letter of the Week:Supersonic Adjustments Just wanted to correct Paul Bertorelli on Capt. Eric “Winkle” Brown’s obit, where you repeat the widespread myth that the XS-1 had to be modified to incorporate the M.52 tail in order to break the sound barrier. Brown RN was the pilot designate for the M.52 and wrote a book, […]

The Air Force’s new long-range stealth bomber will be designated the B-21 and the first artist renderings of the aircraft show an angular flying wing with recessed engines and a smooth elongated teardrop fuselage. Reuters reportedthe bomber drawings were unveiled by U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah James at the annual Air Warfare Symposium. The name […]

In an exclusive, Reuters is reportingthat Lockheed Martin and the Defense Department have inked a $4 billion deal for an eighth series delivery of 43 F-35 single-engine, all-weather, stealth fighters. According to the report, the hard-fought contract will lower the price of the jet by about 3 percent-and it includes aircraft to be built for […]

The U.S. Marine Corps announced that it is determined to meet its goal of having its first squadron of 10 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters ready for combat in July 2015. In an interview with Reuters, outgoing Marine Corps Commandant General James Amos was asked if the Marines would miss the target date for declaring an […]

The NTSB announcedtoday that will take over and complete the investigation into the April 29, 2013, crash of a National Airlines Boeing 747 at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. The cargo flight had originated at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, stopped at Bagram for fuel and was departing to fly to Dubai when it crashed shortly after […]

Today, Embraer began construction of a major addition to its Melbourne Airport, Florida campus-a 236,000-square-foot assembly complex for its Legacy 450 and 500 aircraft. It will consist of four new buildings: an assembly hangar, paint facility, completion center and delivery center. The new construction, expected to be completed in 2016, will more than double the […]

AVweb’s weekly search of the news in the world of aviation turned up a new exhibit exploring the future of space travel, a major award for Civil Air Patrol, a partnership to support the Unmanned Aircraft System Community and approval of a new flight simulator for the Socata TBM-series aircraft. Space Center Houston’s newest exhibit, […]

Last week, when I was being shown around Embraer’s new U.S.-assembled A-29 Super Tucano with a group of journalists, the first thing that caught my eye was a big covered something sticking out of each wing. In an age of remote control drones and smart bombs, that couldn’t possibly be a machine gun, could it? […]

Brazilian aircraft giant Embraer and its U.S. partner, Sierra Nevada Corp., rolled out the first the A-29 Super Tucano for the U.S. Air Force in Jacksonville, Florida, on Thursday. (See the video here.) The aircraft is the first of 20 purchased by the Air Force for deployment in Afghanistan where they will serve as trainers […]