Business & Military

The contenders in the international Lunar XPrize have been narrowed down to five finalist teams who will attempt to be the first to launch and land a robot on the moon by the end of the year. XPrize.org, which is offering a grand prize of $20 million sponsored by Google, announced this week that each […]

A sluggish end to 2016 will result in production cutbacks for Cessna business jets this year, Textron Aviation said Wednesday. The company delivered 58 Citation jets in the fourth quarter of 2016, down from 60 in the same period for 2015. Meanwhile, deliveries of new Beechcraft King Air turboprops fell from 33 in the fourth […]

Spike Aerospace, a startup company based in Boston, Massachusetts, that aims to develop a quiet supersonic 18-passenger jet, said this week it will be ready to fly a technology demonstrator by late this summer. The subsonic test vehicle will be flown to verify the design’s low-speed aerodynamic stall recovery characteristics, the company said. “We made […]

Airbus will begin test flights of its flying taxi prototype by the end of the year, the company’s chief executive said this week. Speaking at the technology industry’s DLD Conference in Munich, Tom Enders said the company’s Silicon Valley arm is developing a multi-rotor, autonomous vehicle that would ease traffic congestion in the world’s major […]

The avionics industry will rise to the challenge of equipping the U.S. aircraft fleet with ADS-B Out by the Jan. 1, 2020, deadline says an industry leader. Ric Peri, the VP of government and industry affairs for the Aircraft Electronics Association, told AVweb in a podcast interview that as demand warrants, the industry will respond […]

The Russian government is looking into the source of a military-grade drone discovered in the sand along the Black Sea. Media outlets in the region near the town of Anapa published photos this week of the mysterious 6-foot, black unmanned aircraft, which is missing part of its right wingtip but otherwise appears undamaged. Lettering on […]

A Canadian company is expanding its unmanned test flights with plans to be the country’s first commercial drone-delivery operation by next year. Drone Delivery Canada of Ontario will soon begin flight trials at the Foremost Aerodrome in Alberta, headquarters of the Foremost Centre for Unmanned Systems — Canada’s first government-approved drone test site. DDC, which […]

If you were busy last week, you may not have noticed the story about Flytenow scrolling by on AVweb. In a nutshell, the brief described how the U.S. Supreme Court had declined to hear the company’s challenge of a ruling upholding a lower court finding that Flytenow was engaged in improper common carriage. Flytenow, you […]

Aerial photography company SkyPan International has reached a settlement with the FAA over charges of violating airspace and other rules with its drones. “While neither admitting nor contesting the allegations that these commercial operations were contrary to FAA regulations, SkyPan wishes to resolve this matter without any further expense or delay of business,” the company […]

Swiss Rotor Solutions has developed a retrofit “bubble” window set for Airbus H125/AS350 helicopters, and recently announced it has achieved EASA certification. FAA certification is in the works and is expected soon, the company said. The kit consists of a new door with the bubble window, a new bow-shaped floor structure that the door conforms […]