Aircraft

About a year and a half ago, we took a look at something called the PowerUp. It’s a capacitor joined to a propeller by a carbon fiber shaft, that can be used to power a user-supplied paper airplane. At the time, we suggested that it would be good if the user could actually steer the PowerUp-powered plane by remote control. With the soon-to-be-released PowerUp 3.0, it turns out, that’s just what they’ll be able to do.  Read More

Iranian State TV on Saturday showed an unveiling ceremony for what the Iran Defense Ministry claims is a new Iranian designed and built combat aircraft. Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the single-seat Qaher F-313 (Dominant F-313) can operate at low altitudes and was constructed from “advanced materials” that contribute to the aircraft’s “very low radar cross section.”  Read More

For the first time, a pair of F-35C Joint Strike Fighters have simultaneously refueled from a KC-130 tanker aircraft. The aircraft's afterburners burn an enormous amount of fuel, so an important part of most missions will be refueling before or after combat, or both. This is why the successful dual refueling is an important benchmark for the JSF family.  Read More

It's been 30 months since Taranis, the UK's autonomous stealth drone, featured on the pages of Gizmag when a prototype of the aircraft was unveiled. According to a report in the UK's Telegraph last Sunday, the unmanned combat aircraft is set to undergo flight testing later this year.  Read More

Today, aerial platform manufacturer DJI announced its new consumer quadcopter, the PHANTOM. It has several features that set it apart from the popular AR Drone – which may or may not sell you on it.  Read More

GE Aviation is developing a revolutionary new jet engine that aims to combine the best traits of turbojet and turbofan engines, delivering supersonic speed capability and fuel efficiency in one package.  Read More

California-based Aeros Corporation has completed construction of its Aeroscraft airship proof-of-design sub-scale prototype. The 79-meter (260-ft) long aircraft will demonstrate the vertical take-off and landing and point to point delivery capabilities of the platform, paving the way for a planned full-scale craft that will be almost twice as long and carry payloads of up to 66 tons.  Read More

There doesn't seem to be anything you can’t do with potatoes. You can boil them, mash them, fry them, roast them and even make pens out of them. Boeing is taking this versatility a step further by using them to replace people. No, this isn't a strange genetic experiment. The plane maker’s engineers at the Boeing Test & Evaluation laboratories have discovered that sacks of potatoes work as a substitute for people, when testing the effect on WiFi of an airline cabin packed with passengers.  Read More

The Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator completed its first sea trials aboard the Nimitz-class nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman this week. The unmanned aircraft was shipped aboard the Truman on November 26 and has been subjected to a wide variety of tests to see how the robotic vehicle operates on a warship.  Read More