Air Force Chief of Staff Says the Service is Targeting F-47 Flights in 2028

The US Air Force is well on its way to flying its next-generation fighter, with the first of many F-47 jets reportedly in the early stages of manufacturing. The service is hoping to get the stealth fighter airborne sometime in 2028… a relatively ambitious target for a plane lacking a suitable engine.

June Order Now Effective Through October 24, 2026

The FAA announced it is extending the order limiting the rate of arrivals and departures at Newark Liberty International Airport (KEWR) in New Jersey, and will continue to be in effect through October 24, 2026. The order, originally issued in June 2025, also increases the hourly flight limit from 68 to 72 operations.

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The US Army recently confirmed its plans to thin out its active duty aviation ranks, cutting 6,500 positions as it phases in unmanned systems. The changes are slated to begin in the coming months and continue through fiscal year 2027. Currently, about 30,000 soldiers serve in aviation roles ranging from pilots to support crews. By the time the cuts are finished, roughly one in five of those positions will be gone. Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy announced that the FAA met and exceeded its goal for hiring air traffic controllers for Fiscal Year 2025 by bringing on 2,026 new controllers. The goal was 2,000 controllers, and the number of new hires is 20 percent more than the previous administration hired from January to September 2024. The US Air Force is well on its way to flying its next-generation fighter, with the first of many F-47 jets

Purdue 1 to Carry Past and Present Boilermakers on a Virgin Galactic Suborbital Spaceflight

An all-Boilermaker team, comprising a university engineering professor, a graduate student, and other alumni, will be making its way to space on the Purdue 1 Virgin Galactic mission in 2027. This further establishes Purdue’s aerospace prestige, with its alumni playing a role in every era of human spaceflight.

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Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works revealed its new autonomous drone it calls “Vectis,” which it says is the right size and is adaptable enough to partner with both Air Force and Navy crewed combat aircraft. While the aircraft is not necessarily aimed at Increment 2 of the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, it will be flying within two years and it could fit into the Increment 1 criteria as well. Drone parachute manufacturer Aerial Vehicle Safety Solutions (AVSS) has voluntarily allowed the FAA to revoke its certification for operation-over-people with the Skydio X10 system. The permission was granted in August 2024, but after spending months on the market without a single sale, it appears the parachute-equipped drone has been abandoned altogether. uAvionix is calling on Pilots to support Portable EC under the FAA’s

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After more than a year being grounded for modifications, the Scaled Composites Model 437 “Vanguard” has returned to flight testing. The aircraft first flew in 2024, quickly taking a break from the skies as it prepared to serve as the airframe for Northrop Grumman’s Beacon autonomy test program. Sergei Sikorsky, whose father, Igor, founded Sikorsky Aircraft decades ago, passed on September 18 at 100 years old. He spent 41 years building his father’s legacy in the industry, taking Sikorsky’s groundbreaking developments and shaping them into some of the most renowned military helicopters in history. Yosemite National Park has been off limits to BASE jumpers for nearly 50 years. Now, a nonprofit called BASE Access is suing in federal court, arguing the ban is unconstitutional and that Yosemite should reopen to legal jumps. BAS

New Eighth Edition!

Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc. (ASA) announced the release of the Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, Eighth Edition. This is the ultimate reference book that contains more than 13,000 accurate, aviation-specific definitions and acronyms.

Turboprop Combines Cost-Effectiveness, Matching Speed, Weaponry, Connectivity

Sierra Nevada Corporation and Embraer are pitching their collaborative efforts on modified A-29 Super Tucano aircraft as a viable and cost-effective option in the growing cUAS (counter-unmanned aerial systems) market. The two companies have produced about 50 Super Tucanos modified for multi-mission and special ops missions over the past decade.

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NASA announced it has awarded Blue Origin a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) task order with an option to deliver its VIPER exploration rover to the South Pole region of the Moon, where it will search for volatile resources such as ice and collect scientific data to support future exploration at the Moon and Mars. This award calls for Blue Origin to deliver the VIPER, or Volatile Investigating Polar Exploration Rover to the lunar surface in late 2027 as part of NASA’s Artemis campaign. DJI has brought the first-ever compact drone to feature a 1-inch sensor, its Mini 5 Pro, to the market… the European and Canadian market, that is. Government suspicion and tariff policies are preventing the drone maker from bringing its one-of-a-kind creation to the US, cutting one of the company’s biggest spenders from the launch. Uber Technologies and Fl

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The EAA has its sights set on a monumental goal: To reach the 2.5 million mark for Young Eagles flown by next summer’s AirVenture fly-in and air show at Oshkosh. During this year’s AirVenture in July, the tally stood at a little more than 60,000 flights short. That’s when the discussion about reaching 2.5 million began in earnest. EAA took note that Young Eagles pilots recorded almost 63,000 flights during the 30th anniversary of the program in 2022-23. A Cirrus SR22T crashed in a field near Macon County Airport (1A5) in Franklin, North Carolina, on September 18, missing an elementary school by just a couple hundred feet. All three occupants, songwriter Brett James, wife Melody Carole, and step-daughter Meryl Maxwell Wilson, tragically lost their lives in the incident. Three months after 260 people were killed in an Air India 787-8