Aircraft

Rotor Technologies is now in production on a full-size unmanned helicopter for civilian use. Based on the Robinson R44 Raven II, the R550X flies for more than three hours, at speeds up to 150 mph (241 km/h), carrying up to 1,200 lb (550 kg) of cargo.

Airbus has flight tested the latest prototype of its A400M Roll-on/Roll-off modular kit that turns a standard Airbus A400M turboprop military transport aircraft into a firefighting bomber to drop water and retardants on conflagrations.

DARPA has announced the four companies that will compete for the contract to design, build and test an X-Plane demonstrator capable of high-speed cruise, hover and VTOL for its Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) project.

The US Air Force's B-21 Raider strategic bomber has made its maiden flight, which was supposed to be on the quiet, but freelance photojournalist Matt Hartman captured footage of the aircraft on Friday morning taking off from Palmdale, California.

A year after it was pronounced airworthy by the FAA, and 14 years after it was first announced, the Samson Sky Switchblade is officially off the ground. This street-legal three-wheeler converts to a 200-mph (320-km/h) airplane at the touch of a button.

The US Air Force has confirmed that its Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider heavy strategic bomber has begun ground taxi tests in Palmdale, California. The secret tests indicate that the maiden flight of the stealth warplane is on track for later this year.

How do you protect hypersonic vehicles from the high temperatures of over 2,200 °C (4,000 °F) encountered when flying in excess of Mach 5? According to the RTX Technology Research Center, the answer is to make them sweat.

MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) is developing an AI co-pilot for aircraft called Air Guardian that actively co-operates with the pilot, making the computer part of a team instead of an emergency backup.

A vintage Cold War spy plane is getting a new lease on life as Lockheed Martin's notorious yet secretive Skunk Works completes the first test flight of a Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady with an upgraded avionics suite and cockpit displays.

The US Air Force has taken delivery of the first of 10 improved EC-37B Compass Call electronic attack warfare aircraft from BAE Systems and L3Harris Technologies as it replaces its vintage EC-130H Compass Call that has been in service since 1982.

UK company Aeralis is going full throttle on a disruptive new modular jet concept that could handle a huge range of capabilities, from advanced jet training to long-range unmanned ISR missions, with a single fuselage and a range of swappable parts.

In a move that sounds like the wildest of science fiction, DARPA has announced its new Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) program that plans to use lasers relayed by airborne platforms to power machines thousands of miles away.