Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton HALE UAS completes first flight

Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft is one step closer to serving the Navy in maritime reconnaissance and surveillance missions, having just completed its first flight at Palmdale, California. The drone spent 80 minutes in the air, reaching an altitude of 20,000 feet. 

The MQ-4C Triton, the airborne element of the U.S. Navy's Broad Area Maritime 

Surveillance (BAMS) system which also include the Boeing P-8A Poseidon MMA aircraft .

The aircraft can soar at up to 60,000 feet and stay airborne for as long as 30 hours. By 2015, the Triton will undergo operational testing and evaluation, and the Navy hopes to add additional aircraft to its existing fleet (currently just two strong). 

First flight-test A350 emerges in full colours

Airbus A350-900

Airbus has unveiled the first A350-900 flight-test prototype in its full paint scheme, as the airframer makes final preparations for the twinjet's maiden sortie.

The aircraft has been fitted with its Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines and the painting process marks one of the final stages before the flight-test regime begins.

Customers have ordered 414 of the -900 variant, the first of the three-member family to be developed.

Urban Aeronautics upgrades AirMule with new propellers

Urban Aeronautics Air Mule

Israeli manufacturer Urban Aeronautics is testing its AirMule vertical take-off and landing unmanned air system with new propellers to enhance its capabilities.

It has replaced the UAV's previous four-blade propellers with new six-blade composite versions.

The new rotors retain the diameter of the originals and operate at the same RPM, but are expected to increase the aircraft's payload by approximately 200kg (440lb).

In a parallel effort, Urban Aeronautics is accelerating the assembly of a second AirMule prototype in preparation for a series of demonstration flights requested by potential customers.

The second prototype is intended primarily as a reserve aircraft to ensure uninterrupted flight testing once customer demonstrations, planned for mid-2014, are underway.

Read more at: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/urban-aeronautics-upgrades-airmule-with-new-propellers-385918/

X-47B Catapult launched From Aircraft Carrier-Creates History

The U.S. Navy launched an unmanned, autonomous aircraft the size of a fighter jet from a warship for the first time today, a development that could herald the end of Top Gun-style piloted air combat missions.

The X-47B drone is the first designed to operate an aircraft carrier, which allows it to be used around the world without needing permission to take off from airfields in other countries.

But there are concerns about the legality of what has been dubbed America's 'covert drone war'. Strikes cause widespread civilian deaths and operate with only limited oversight, critics say.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324571/U-S-Navys-X-47B-stealth-drone-launches-aircraft-carrier-time--critics-warn-heralds-rise-killer-robots.html

P-8I delivered to Indian Navy touches down

India's long-range maritime snooping and anti-submarine warfare capabilities will get a huge boost when the first of the eight contracted Poseidon-8I aircraft touches down at the Arakkonam naval air station in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

Under the $2.1 billion deal inked with US aviation major Boeing in January 2009, the second and the third P-8I aircraft will reach the naval air station INS Rajali in August and November, with the other five being progressively delivered by 2015. India is going in for a repeat order of four more P-8I in a contract worth over $1 billion.

Dream Chaser shipped to NASA Dryden for glide tests

SNC Dream Chaser Post Flight

Sierra Nevada has shipped the Dream Chaser orbital spacecraft to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center near Palmdale, California, for glide tests.

The Dream Chaser departed Sierra Nevada's factory near Denver, Colorado by truck, headed for NASA's Dryden centre, which is co-located with flight test facilities at Edwards AFB.

The spacecraft will be reassembled, then undergo tests including suitability for towing, ground resonance and captive-carry tests slung beneath a helicopter, leading up to a series of autonomous glide tests.

For the glide tests, the spacecraft will be brought to various altitudes by a Sikorsky CH-53 and released to glide back to the runway on its own.

Read more at: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/dream-chaser-shipped-to-nasa-dryden-for-glide-tests-385798/

India's Sukhoi-30MKI's to dominate South India and Indian Ocean

       

Even as the western and eastern fronts with Pakistan and China are bolstered with additional Sukhoi-30MKI squadrons, India has also kick-started plans to base its most lethal 'air dominance' fighter in south India to keep a 'strategic eye' over Indian Ocean. 

       Defence minister A K Antony will inaugurate the new airbase at Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu on May 27, which will eventually house a Sukhoi squadron (16 to 18 jets) after the requisite “tech-flight hangers, avionic bays, labs, fuel dumps and other infrastructure” comes up over the next few years.