Aircraft

Another air record has been (unofficially) broken as a prop-driven solar/electric aircraft reached the highest altitude yet for its type. On August 12, 2025, a modified Elektra One reached 31,237 feet (9,521 m) in the skies over Switzerland.

The US Navy's secretive F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter plane is a bit less secret after program competitor Northrop Grumman unveiled a new concept image of its version of the carrier-based warplane, giving us a few design clues.

The US Air Force celebrated the 70th anniversary of the famous U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane on July 31, 2025 – not with a cake but by setting new endurance records for the class of aircraft on the first long-duration flight of the U-2 in 11 years.

One of the world's first sixth-generation fighters has moved closer to its first flight, as BAE Systems unveils the prototype Combat Air Flying Demonstrator, now under construction for the Global Combat Air Programme by Britain, Italy, and Japan.

When is a laser weapon not a weapon? When it's the ASELSAN YILDIRIM 100 Directed Infrared Countermeasure (DIRCM) System that doesn't actually destroy incoming infrared missiles, but instead blinds them before they have a chance to lock on target.

Proving that you can't keep a good technology down, Reaction Engines' Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE) has a new lease on life after a British-led consortium announced Invictus, a new program to build a Mach 5+ spaceplane.

Literally shining a new light on aircraft maintenance, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is using a new laser tool to remove paint, grime, and corrosion from vintage airplanes in days instead of months and with much less hazard to health.

If you've been hoping for a long-range, low-cost, heavy-lift seaplane using Wing-In-Ground effect (WIG), you'll have to be patient because DARPA has confirmed that it has cancelled its US$98-million Liberty Lifter project.

Why settle for a robot when you can have a robot coyote? That seems to be the thinking of the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), which is developing a cybernetic prairie predator to keep airfields clear of hazardous wildlife.

Electric-hybrid aircraft have taken another step from the exotic to the practical with VoltAero unveiling the production model of its Cassio 330 five-seat regional passenger aircraft that combines quiet efficiency with the most spacious cabin in its class.

Hermeus seems dead keen on fast-tracking its way to hypersonic passenger flight. Its uncrewed subsonic Quarterhorse Mark 1 prototype has completed its maiden flight in the skies over Edwards Air Force Base in California on May 21, 2025.

Who needs windows when you can have superefficient transonic passenger flight? That seems to be the reasoning behind Otto Aviation's Phantom 3500 jet aircraft that dumps the portholes in favor of super-laminar flow to lose weight and burn less fuel.