Airbus

The US Army's record-breaking Zephyr 8 uncrewed ultra-long endurance drone demonstration came to an abrupt end after an unprecedented 64 days in flight, when an unspecified event brought the aircraft down over the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.

The remarkable Zephyr is a stratospheric UAV designed to fly ultra-long endurance missions acting as a solar-powered observation and comms platform. In its latest test, it sailed past its old endurance record two weeks ago, and may still be up there.

Airbus has achieved a green aviation first as an H225 made the first-ever helicopter flight with both of its Safran Makila 2 engines running on 100 percent Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), which is usually derived from biomass.

On June 15, Airbus' first A321XLR (Xtra Long Range) airliner completed its maiden flight over Hamburg-Finkenwerder Airport with test pilots Thierry Diez and GabrielDiaz de Villegas Giron at the controls for a four-hour shakedown systems test.

Airbus is moving ahead with its vision of aircraft with active wing control, working to mimic the behavior of bird flight with wings that adapt their shape on the fly to optimize aerodynamics and lower carbon footprints.

As part of a broader push on part of the aviation industry to reduce its carbon footprint, Airbus has conducted the first ever flight of its giant A380 jumbo jet using 100 percent biofuel, made up of primarily cooking oil.

Airbus, in partnership with CFM International (a joint company of GE and Safran Aircraft Engines), is developing an A380 flying testbed called the ZEROe Demonstrator to examine how hydrogen combustion can be used to power turbofan jet engines.

Lufthansa takes inspiration from superyachts in creating its new Explorer Concept, an airborne explorer yacht with a five-star cabin. The aircraft travels the globe in hours, instead of the days or weeks it would take slower expedition vehicles.

Airbus' latest high-endurance stratosphere drone, the Zephyr S, has set a new altitude record for an Unmanned Aerial System in its class, soaring to 76,100 ft in the skies over Arizona during two flights totaling 36 days aloft.

After shutting down the Vahana program in 2019, Airbus has revealed the new four-seat electric VTOL aircraft it's taking to the air taxi market for 2025. And while it's very pretty, the new CityAirbus's spec sheet is surprisingly underwhelming.

Airbus is expanding the capabilities of its Flightlab helicopter designed to test out next-generation aviation technologies, by incorporating some advanced hardware geared toward autonomous flight, including LiDAR sensors from Luminar.

Airbus is working on a number of hydrogen-powered aircraft, and it's just found a new angle on cryogenic liquid H2 fuel: using it to supercool the powertrain down to superconducting temperatures, possibly unlocking huge weight and efficiency savings.