There some online pictures of both of China’s aircraft carriers at the port in Dalian. China has two aircraft carriers: the refurbished carrier Liaoning and a second ship the Type 002 is currently undergoing sea trials. Liaoning is expected to function strictly as a training carrier. The Type 002 carrier was built by China and …
In 2017, Los Angeles startup Wright Electric partnered with budget airline EasyJet to build a 180-seat electric airliner to fly routes of up to 300 miles starting around 2027. It will feature high aspect ratio wings for energy efficient flight, distributed electric aircraft propulsion and swappable battery packs with advanced cell chemistry. The 10-person Los …
Zunum Aero is a startup backed by Boeing and Jet Blue who is developing hybrid electric and all-electric aircraft of varying sizes. The planes would fly between the thousands of small airports around the USA. Southern California-based charter air services, JetSuite and JetSuite X, announced a deal where they would buy up to 100 of …
An unmanned Airbus drone aircraft, a 75 kilogram Zephyr, flew for almost 26 days. It will offer local satellite-like services and runs on solar power. It flies in the stratosphere at an average altitude of 70,000 feet and has a wingspan of 25 meters. Zephyr is a High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) that fills a capability …
Russia, China and the USA will have ultra-high resolution photonic radar on future planes to spot and target stealth fighters. Russia has started to invest in military applications of photonic radar technology. The Pentagon has a lead with photonic radar technology. The Pentagon has several photonics-based technology development program underway for radars, signals intelligence and …
Russians have built the vast majority of planes that leverage Wing in Ground Effect. Flying low above the water or land can provide extra lift to enable planes with far more cargo capacity. The Soviet Navy built about thirty 125 ton Orlyonok-class ekranoplans and they were deployed mainly in the Black Sea and Baltic Sea …
Airport security is both slow and ineffective. The random testing of airport security finds that the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) fails to detect weapons 80-95% of the time. The 95% failure rate was from 2001 to 2015. Recent tests have found some improvement to 80%. New scanning equipment could speed up security checks by 30% …
According to JetNet (reported in Knight Frank’s 2017 Wealth report), within the largest 10 markets for private aviation there are around 17,000 (16,854) privately owned aircraft registered. The US has 75% of private jet ownership amongst the top 10 markets. US private jets has grown 34% from 2006 to 2016 to reach 12,717. Boom Supersonic …
Akka Technologies is developing pods with detachable wings that would integrate aviation and public transit. The AKKA Group is an engineering and technology consulting company with 16000 employees. The detachable wings would make for vastly more efficient boarding and improve the utilization of the engines and wings. You go to a local train station and …
Lockheed Martin is proposing to offer Japan a stealth fighter that combines the designs of the F-35 Lighting II and the export-banned F-22 Raptor. Japan is hoping to introduce an air superiority fighter sometime after 2030, to counter new stealth fighters from China and Russia. Japan has a $40 billion stealth fighter program. The F22 …
The US Air Force is testing materials produced through ceramic additive manufacturing to advance their potential future use in hypersonic flight vehicles. They are testing additively manufactured silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) materials.The geometric complexity of components that can be produced through additive manufacturing in conjunction with the refractory nature of ceramics holds enormous potential for a …