U.S. Air Force Launches $16 Billion T-X Competition

The U.S. Air Force has launched its highly-anticipated T-X next-generation trainer competition, issuing a request for proposals on Dec. 30 that will likely be answered by five or six industry team already vying for the $16.3 billion contract opportunity.

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http://aviationweek.com/defense/us-air-force-launches-16-billion-t-x-competition

http://aviationweek.com/blog/us-air-force-launches-16-billion-t-x-competition

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/us-air-force-releases-final-t-x-trainer-rfp-432824/

The aerial tankers that helped shrink the globe

Aerial refuelling has been enthusiastically embraced by air forces around the world since the 1950s. Will we now see airliners refuelled the same way? When I spent time on alert when the Cold War was on, I had to spend a week underground in a bunker," says Chris Hoctor, former crew member of a Un...

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Trump's newest adviser wants to mine the moon

The addition of Charles Miller to the NASA "landing party" bodes well for private space companies Every time America gets a new president, NASA undergoes an upheaval. The agency gets new leadership, and sometimes major programs get cut. Donald Trump's plans for NASA are still largely up-in-the-ai...

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How the hoverboard went from fiction to fact

Marty McFly's wheeless ride from Back to the Future II is with us in real life. How does it work? And what does it mean for future transport? It was the must-have gift you had no hope of finding under the tree on Christmas morning – mostly because it didn't exist. The hoverboard may have only bee...

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You can't replace the F-35 with an F-18 any more than you can replace an aircraft carrier with a cruise ship

An F-18 cannot do everything an F-35 can do, unless stealth doesn't matter. Stealth planes are complex machines. The science of stealth is really two sciences carefully put together: materials and shape, forming an outer casing of an airplane that hides the sensitive guts inside from hostile RADA...

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These brothers built a mine-sweeping drone

To clear land mines without casualties Brothers Massoud and Mahmud Hassani grew up in Kabul, Afghanistan, knowing that one wrong step could end their lives. "When we walked to school, we had a special path to follow—otherwise we would end up in a minefield," Massoud says. Mines are cheap to manuf...

http://flip.it/nQCBda

How the government is making way for self-driving cars

Outgoing Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx on our robotic future Driverless cars are moving fast. Google and Lyft flash us their self-driving-car schemes, and Uber has already put robo-cabs to work in Pittsburgh. But if autonomous cars are going to chauffeur us, we need to regulate them. D...

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The ‘Super’ Plane That Could Replace the F-35 Stealth Fighter [feedly]

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The 'Super' Plane That Could Replace the F-35 Stealth Fighter
// War Is Boring - Medium



Could the F/A-18 Super Hornet be a real alternative?

Continue reading on War Is Boring »

https://warisboring.com/the-super-plane-that-could-replace-the-f-35-stealth-fighter-e71d47b62175
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Last December a U.S. Air Force B-52 tested the AGM-86B nuclear-capable air-launched cruise missile over Utah [feedly]

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Last December a U.S. Air Force B-52 tested the AGM-86B nuclear-capable air-launched cruise missile over Utah
// The Aviationist

The AGM-86B nuclear-capable air-launched cruise missile was tested by the Air Force Global Strike Command's 2nd Bomb Wing and Air Combat Command's 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron recently. The U.S. Air Force tested the ability of its strategic bomber force to configure, load, fly and deliver an unarmed version of the AGM-86B nuclear-capable air-launched cruise […] 

https://theaviationist.com/2016/12/29/last-december-a-u-s-air-force-b-52-tested-the-agm-86b-nuclear-capable-air-launched-cruise-missile-over-utah/

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FAA Approves North Dakota Drone Test Site For BVLOS Testing [feedly]

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FAA Approves North Dakota Drone Test Site For BVLOS Testing
// Aero-News Network

First In The Nation To Be Authorized For Flights Beyond Visual Line Of Site The FAA has granted a certificate of authorization to the Northern Plains UAS Test Site to begin flight testing beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). 

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=1235b62e-a8ce-4f60-87cc-ef59368be688

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Drone air traffic control system being developed in Singapore [feedly]

Drone air traffic control system being developed in Singapore
// Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine



The skies of the near future will be increasingly packed with drones, surveying, snapping photos and delivering basically everything. A network with that many moving parts needs some structure, so Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is developing an air traffic control system for drones in Singaporean airspace, exploring ideas like geofencing, designated flight lanes and ground stations that track all airborne UAVs.

.. Continue Reading Drone air traffic control system being developed in Singapore

http://newatlas.com/drone-air-traffic-control-system-singapore/47158/

Russia deploys Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighters to Far East region - UPI.com

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/12/30/Russia-deploys-Sukhoi-Su-34-strike-fighters-to-Far-East-region/2221483107896/

UPI.com

Russia deploys Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighters to Far East region UPI.com 30 (UPI) -- The Russian military has deployed Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighters to its Far East airbase closest to the Korean peninsula. Col. Alexander Gordeyev of the Eastern Military District said Friday, "Several new Su-34 fighter bombers have flown over ...

Antonov Airlines appoints UK sales team - Air Cargo News

Air Cargo News

Antonov Airlines appoints UK sales team Air Cargo News Antonov Airlines – operator of the Antonov AN-124, AN-225 and AN-22 aircraft – has appointed Dreamlifts Limited as its general sales agent, replacing Ruslan International. Based at Antonov's new offices in Stansted Airport's Diamond Hangar, Dreamlifts' ...

http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/antonov-airlines-appoints-uk-sales-team.html

Feds Approve Beyond Line of Sight Flights for Drone at Grand Forks Test Site - AviationPros.com

sUAS News

Feds Approve Beyond Line of Sight Flights for Drone at Grand Forks Test Site AviationPros.com The permission, known as a certificate of authorization, allows test site staff to fly unmanned aircraft systems, also called drones, without the use of a chase plane. Chase planes are piloted aircraft that follow drones during flight to maintain a ... Northern Plains Secure COA for First in the Nation Beyond-Line-of-Sight OperabilitysUAS News Grand Forks drone test site capabilities expandedBismarck Tribune

http://www.aviationpros.com/news/12290639/feds-approve-beyond-line-of-sight-flights-for-drone-at-grand-forks-test-site

Facing a pilot shortage, could Alaska become a proving ground for pilotless aircraft? - Alaska Dispatch News

Alaska Dispatch News

Facing a pilot shortage, could Alaska become a proving ground for pilotless aircraft? Alaska Dispatch News The University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute's Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration, one of six federal drone research centers, is testing aircraft in frigid conditions and flying unmanned craft hundreds of miles over Arctic ...

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/aviation/2016/12/29/facing-a-pilot-shortage-could-alaska-become-proving-ground-for-pilot-less-aircraft/

Turkish Light Utility Helicopter Emerges As T-625

Turkish Aerospace Industries will market its indigenous clean-sheet twin-engine utility helicopter under the designation T-625, company officials have confirmed.

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http://aviationweek.com/defense/turkish-light-utility-helicopter-emerges-t-625