U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

By Brian Everstine
Milestones loom in the coming months for future refueler and airlifter programs amid funding uncertainty.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Marine Corps has selected Sikorsky to demonstrate its flight-autonomy system onboard an optionally piloted UH-60 Black Hawk.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Stop-fold tiltrotor tests; EcoPulse lessons learned; Black Hawk advanced controls; China’s AAM avionics supplier.
Emerging Technologies

By Graham Warwick
Bell has completed wind-tunnel testing of its proposed X-plane for a DARPA project to demonstrate a high-speed vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.
Emerging Technologies

By Vivienne Machi
The U.S. needs nuclear propulsion to power spacecraft beyond geostationary orbit for human space exploration and dynamic space operations.
Launch Vehicles & Propulsion

By Vivienne Machi
Over the past half-century, the U.S. has introduced over 20 efforts to harness nuclear power and propulsion for space operations, only to cancel all of them.
Operations & Safety

By Brian Everstine
Australia, the U.S. and UK have agreed under the AUKUS pact to jointly accelerate the testing and fielding of hypersonic weapons.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
The milestone moves the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program closer to a delayed launch date in 2026.
Operations & Safety

By Graham Warwick
The upgrade will enable the Army to evaluate autonomy capabilities for the UH-60 and potentially a planned replacement, the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Fan-in-wing VTOL airlifter; Electrifying the C-130; Hover record goal for LH2 drone; Fly-drive logistics eVTOL.
Emerging Technologies

By Brian Everstine
After killing the UH-60V Black Hawk upgrade, the Army has embarked on a nose-to-tail upgrade of the UH-60M.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
The Aurora concept includes two turbofan fan engines for horizontal thrust and four fans embedded into the blended wing body airframe for vertical lift.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Garrett Reim
The semiconductors could increase power delivery and better manage heat in radar and radio communications systems, Raytheon said on Oct. 2.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Steve Trimble
A multitude of autonomous flying vehicles sharing airspace with crewed aircraft over a battlefield raises concerns about safety.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Graham Warwick
Aurora’s Liberty Lifter; stratospheric HAPS; Radian’s subscale spaceplane; and GAC plans winged eVTOL air taxi.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
The Boeing subsidiary’s proposed version of the Liberty Lifter demonstrator features a 213-ft. wingspan and the ability to carry up 50,000 lb. of cargo.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
Responses to the RFI are expected to feature an eclectic mix of solutions to the problem.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
U.S. Air Force and Army support finally takes Piasecki’s Ares into the air.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Piasecki Aircraft has conducted the first tethered hover flights of the Ares tilt-duct vertical-takeoff-and-landing demonstrator.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Garrett Reim
The agency wants materials that are also resistant to the corrosive LEO environment.
Space

By Garrett Reim
Many “emerging” technologies were thought of and first tried long ago.
Emerging Technologies

By Garrett Reim
A test to see if spacecraft can fly in very low Earth orbit will come in 2027. The orbit has intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance advantages.
Space

By Steve Trimble
GE Aerospace now boasts a validated propulsion design that will compete for use in a future class of hypersonic missiles and reusable vehicles.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
Frank Kendall has spent his time as secretary working to reshape the Air Force—but will his work outlast him?
Budget, Policy & Operations