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Rolls-Royce has announced the launch of the Pearl engine family which is designed for business aviation. The Pearl will go into service as the sole engine for Bombardier’s Global 5500 and Global 6500 business jets. By combining innovative technologies from the company’s Advances2 demonstrator programme with proven features from the BR700, the Pearl 15 will deliver up to 15,1...

Airbus has created a new Urban Air Mobility Business Unit that will be led by Eduardo Dominguez Puerta, formerly COO of the company’s US-based Innovation Centre in Silicon Valley. With this appointment, Airbus is integrating all its UAM activities – except its current air vehicle projects – through the set-up of a new unit to foster coordination both internally and with exte...

BAE Systems has been awarded a five-year contract by Lockheed Martin. The contract will see BAE Systems manage the supply chain and put in place the necessary infrastructure to ensure that electronic warfare capabilities for F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft are mission capable and available to warfighters. BAE Systems has a range of electronic warfare capabilities that wil...

The UK government’s industrial strategy is paying off for Rolls-Royce which is set to receive more than £10m for two projects that will focus on aircraft engine performance and efficiency. The total value of the projects is over £21m. Rolls-Royce has clubbed together with the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and academic partners to secure the grants for the two projects...

As space technology gets more and more critical to the UK’s military systems, a new strategy is needed to secure the UK’s operations against space-based threats. This strategy will be unveiled this Summer which will include plans to protect against emerging space-based threats such as jamming of civilian satellites used for broadcasters and satellite navigation to support mi...

Peter Hargreaves, founder of financial services company Hargreaves Lansdowne, has taken a controlling interest in Goonhilly Earth Station for £24m. The company will use the investment for working capital to expand the business internationally and provide 24 hour coverage of the Moon and Mars. Goonhilly, once the world’s largest satellite station, has a long and storied histo...

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) is to send a small autonomous helicopter to Mars as part of the agency's 2020 Mars Rover mission. It is hoped that the rotorcraft will demonstrate the advantages and feasibility of a heavier-than-air craft on Mars. If the concept is proven, helicopters could have a role in future manned Mars missions as scouts, able to reach and survey nearby ...

At its second Elevate Summit in Los Angeles, Uber shed some light on plans to overcome key barriers to its vision of on-demand air mobility. Keen to own all aspects of a future based on on-demand urban mobility, Uber has set its sights on air transport as a complement to its automobile network and recently acquired last-mile electric scooter businesses. Basically, if you wan...

Atlas Elektronik UK has delivered the Royal Navy’s first autonomous minesweeper. The vessel is made up of three coil auxiliary boats led by a ten tonne unmanned surface vessel. The auxiliary boats can detonate mines via magnetic, electric and acoustic signals. These capabilities extend to defeating modern digital sea mines which can detect and target military ships passing a...

Planetary Resources, the space mining company, ultimately aims to build a business by mining asteroids. A very early milestone was reached in January 2018 as the company launched a tiny satellite as a demonstration platform with the goal of detecting water in space. The shoe-box sized satellite, known as the Arkyd-6, was sent to space on an Indian rocket and immediately bega...