October 29, 2025 - No. 44 In This Issue : Airbus A220 Global Fleet Marred by Supply Chain and Engine Issues : Belgium secures F-35 engine industrial deal with Safran and Pratt & Whitney : Pentagon to issue Pratt & Whitney F-35 engine upgrade contract : Rolls-Royce Looks To Bigger Production Volumes With Pearl Family : UH-60 Black Hawk Cargo Drone With Clamshell Nose Breaks Cover (Updated) : GE Aerospace Prepares Passports for Global 8000 Liftoff : Bombardier Selects Fort Wayne for Next Service Center : Scientists Forge New “Superalloy” So Powerful It Could Revolutionize Jet Engines and Power Plants : New F-35 Maintenance Center Opened in Norway : Leap to Quiet Supersonic: X-59 QueSST Takes to Skies for First Time : The Boeing 7M7 - The Proposed Future Boeing Aircraft To Replace The 737 MAX and 797 | Never Built (Video) Airbus A220 Global Fleet Marred by Supply Chain and Engine Issues Len Varley Note: See photos in the original article. The Airbus A220, celebrated for its fuel efficiency and passenger comfort, faces a significant operational hurdle. Currently, a number of the 451 delivered aircraft are currently grounded. Contents • Supply Chain Bottlenecks and Engine Issues • Ripple Effects Across the Industry • Looking Ahead Industry sources are variously reporting grounding problems with around 20% of the delivered aircraft impacted. As of late 2024 early 2025 reports suggested a 15% impact. Of this number, 7% of those currently grounded are affected by issues with Pratt & Whitney’s PW1500G. This issue underscores a broader crisis that’s disrupting airlines. Strained supply chains are challenging the A220’s reputation as a next-generation narrowbody. Supply Chain Bottlenecks and Engine Issues The PW1500G, a geared turbofan engine exclusive to the A220, has been subject to durability issues. Premature wear, corrosion in high-pressure compressor hubs, and powder-metal defects causing cracks have forced extensive inspections and maintenance. These problems stem from a broader recall of over 3,000 PW1000G-series engines, including the PW1500G, mandated by regulators due to safety concerns. With overhaul times stretching up to 300 days and a shortage of spare engines, airlines are being left in a bind. The supply chain bottleneck at Pratt & Whitney exacerbates the issue, leaving operators like airBaltic and SWISS scrambling to maintain schedules. Photo Credit: Lufthansa Group For instance, airBaltic, Europe’s largest A220 operator with around 50 aircraft, had 14 of its fleet sidelined earlier this year, resulting in 19 route cuts and 4,670 cancelled flights. SWISS International, operating 35 A220s, reports 10-12 aircraft grounded on average, with flight hours down 25% since 2019. Korean Air faced a staggering 40% of its A220 fleet out of service in April 2025. Smaller carriers haven’t been spared: EgyptAir retired its 12 A220s in 2024, and Air Austral plans to phase out its three aircraft by year-end due to these unresolved issues. Photo Credit: Swiss International Airlines Ripple Effects Across the Industry The financial and operational toll is significant. Airlines are resorting to wet-leasing alternative aircraft, reducing flight frequencies, and absorbing losses. Spirit Airlines, for example, secured $72 million in compensation credits from Pratt & Whitney, but such measures only partially offset the disruption. The broader PW1000G engine family issues also affect Airbus A320neo and Embraer E-Jet E2 fleets, with over 500 aircraft grounded globally, amplifying the strain on operators and passengers alike. Airbus and Pratt & Whitney are working on solutions, including material improvements and software updates to enhance engine durability. However, industry experts predict these fixes may take years to fully implement, with disruptions likely to persist through the decade. Despite these challenges, the A220 remains a cornerstone of Airbus’s portfolio, with production continuing at six to eight units per month, driven by demand for its efficiency when operational. Photo Credit: Airbus Looking Ahead The A220’s grounding problems highlight the risk of relying on cutting-edge technology without robust supply chain support. For airlines, the immediate focus is on managing fleet shortages and maintaining customer trust amid cancellations. For Airbus and Pratt & Whitney, restoring confidence in the PW1500G is critical to sustaining the A220’s market position. While the aircraft’s long-term prospects remain strong, resolving these engine and related issues swiftly will be key to keeping operators and passengers on board Belgium secures F-35 engine industrial deal with Safran and Pratt & Whitney By Clement Charpentreau October 13, 2025, 16:29 (UTC +3) Defense Pratt & Whitney Alongside the arrival of Belgium’s first F-35A Lightning II fighters at Florennes Air Base, the Belgian government has signed a new agreement with Pratt & Whitney, the RTX subsidiary that manufactures the F135 engine powering the aircraft. The agreement, announced on October 13, 2025, during the F-35 delivery ceremony, will expand Belgium’s role in the global F-35 industrial network by enabling local production of key engine components. Under the new deal, Safran Aero Boosters will establish manufacturing capabilities for selected F135 components at its facility in Milmort, near Liège. The agreement also consolidates a long-standing partnership with BMT Aerospace, based in Oostkamp, which will collaborate on developing and producing major engine structures through an “innovative manufacturing concept,” according to the companies. Strengthening Belgian participation in the F-35 supply chain The initiative is presented as a significant industrial return for Belgium’s participation in the F-35 program, complementing earlier cooperation between Safran and BMT on a joint Research and Technology project for advanced engine-component production. Safran Aero Boosters CEO François Lepot described the new agreement as “a clear signal of Belgium’s political commitment to industrial sovereignty and job creation,” adding that it ensures “a strategic role for Belgian industry in the supply chain of this iconic aircraft program.” Cooperation between Flanders and Wallonia Both companies emphasized the regional balance of the deal. With Safran Aero Boosters representing Wallonia and BMT Aerospace based in Flanders, the project is supported jointly by the Walloon and Flemish regional governments, the Belgian Ministry of Defense, and the federal government’s economic arm. BMT Aerospace CEO Benoit Reynders said the partnership highlights “how innovation and cooperation between regions can deliver world-class capabilities,” noting that it also “secures long-term industrial activity and skilled jobs in Flanders.” Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Employment and Economy David Clarinval called the deal “a strategic investment in Belgium’s security, sovereignty, and industrial strength,” underscoring that “every euro invested acts as a lever for our industry, employment, and economy.” “Beyond Lockheed Martin“ Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken said the agreement demonstrates that “the economic return of the F-35 program extends beyond Lockheed Martin,” stressing that the partnership ensures Belgian innovation “in an essential component: the F-35’s engine.” The industrial plan adds to Belgium’s growing footprint within the F-35 program, following earlier commitments to training, maintenance, and logistics work across multiple regions. Pentagon to issue Pratt & Whitney F-35 engine upgrade contract By Clement Charpentreau November 30, 2023, 16:25 (UTC +3) Defense Pratt & Whitney The F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office (JPO) has announced its intention to issue follow-on contract actions to Raytheon Technologies Corporation (RTX) and its subsidiary Pratt & Whitney Military Engines (P&W) for the F135 Engine Core Upgrade (ECU). The contract, set to span from the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 to the end of calendar year 2031, aims to enhance the F135 engine, which powers all variants of the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet: the F-35A, F-35B, and F-35C. “The anticipated contract actions will provide F135 ECU design maturation, test article manufacturing and development, test asset procurement, validation and verification activities, weapon system integration for air system capabilities, test equipment procurements, and developmental hardware procurements,” the US Department of Defense said in a contract notice. The F135 ECU project, previously known as the Engine Enhancement Program (EEP), focuses on improving the electrical power and onboard cooling capacity to meet the energy requirements of the future F-35 Block 4. Pratt & Whitney also estimates that upgrading the F135 engine will save billions in maintenance costs, with an evaluated $4 billion in additional maintenance expenses without the ECU. Two options were under consideration: Pratt & Whitney’s improved F-135 engine and GE Aviation’s XA-100, an adaptive cycle engine developed as part of the Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP). In March 2023, Secretary of the United States Air Force, Frank Kendall, announced the selection of the enhanced F-135 engine over the XA-100. This choice stemmed from apprehensions about the XA-100’s expense and uncertainties regarding its suitability for all F-35 variants. Kendall stressed that incorporating the XA-100 engine into the F-35B STOVL variant utilized by the US Marine Corps may pose significant challenges or even prove unfeasible. However, a few months later, the debate was briefly reopened by Greg Ulmer, the Executive Vice-President of Lockheed Martin, who expressed his support for equipping the advanced fighter jet with an AETP-type engine. RTX also plans an upgrade to the current Power and Thermal Management System or PTMS of the aircraft to reduce bleed air and improve engine efficiency and usage. Its solution is called the Enhanced Power and Cooling System or EPACS, and builds on the experience of Collins Aerospace, another Raytheon subsidiary, in thermal management and power generation. RTX announced the successful lab demonstration of the EPACS during the Paris Air Show 2023. “We were trying to look how far we can push the machine. We pushed to 2.5 times the current cooling rate,” Henry Brooks, President of Power & Controls at Collins Aerospace, said in a briefing during the Paris Air Show 2023. “The idea was to solve if we can create a system that can play its role for the remainder of the aircraft’s service life.” However again, RTX will have to convince the US Department of Defense. Honeywell, which manufactured the original PTMS, is also working on an upgrade which, as it is based on the existing design, should be more cost-savvy than the EPACS. Rolls-Royce Looks To Bigger Production Volumes With Pearl Family Guy Norris October 13, 2025 Credit: Rolls-Royce LAS VEGAS—As Rolls-Royce awaits certification of the Pearl 10X engine for Dassault’s Falcon 10X ultra-long-range business jet, the company is simultaneously increasing production of the other Pearl family members for its growing Bombardier and Gulfstream large cabin fleets. The Pearl 15 powers the Bombardier Global 5500 and 6500, while the Gulfstream G700 and G800 use the Pearl 700. Around 700 Pearl 15 and 700 engines have been built to-date and the company is confident overall production numbers will continue to swell beyond those of earlier generations. More than 70 Pearl 700-powered Gulfstream G700s have already been delivered since the first was handed over to Qatar Executive in April 2024, while deliveries of the initial G800 began in August following FAA and EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) certification in April. Both the G700 and G800 are designed to succeed the BR725-powered G650/650ER, production of which ended in February 2024 with the completion of the 598th aircraft. Having marked the delivery of the 1,000th BR725 to Gulfstream for the G650 in September 2022, the engine maker eventually wrapped up production with around 1,200 units completed. “Looking at the two product lines, including the flagship Gulfstream 700, it has all the potential to exceed that by some margin,” says Justin Mills, senior vice president Gulfstream, Rolls-Royce. “No one’s got a crystal ball, of course, but based on sensible planning you would expect us to beat BR725 volumes quite comfortably—then you’ve got the 10X on top of that,” he adds. “These are really sizeable volumes,” notes Mills. “The market is doing very well, and certainly the ultra-long range and very long-range markets are growing very quickly. These machines offer people not just the range, but also the ability to travel long distances at high cruise speeds.” The production increase is not without its challenges, particularly with on-going pressures on the supply line, acknowledges Mills. “How do we ramp up and make sure that we keep pace with Gulfstream on engine deliveries? However, we’re doing very well, so it’s always an exciting time of the program.” Commenting on the company’s overall turnaround under CEO Tufan Erginbilgic who took the helm in January 2023, he adds “we have become a vastly more resilient business. It’s given us opportunities to make sure that we are more robust across the patch in terms of our delivery performance.” For the moment, the near-term focus remains on securing EASA certification for the Pearl 10X, all major testing on which was completed this summer. “All the hard yards are done,” says Mills. “This includes the initial maintenance interval and bird strike type tests. Those are all done and in the bag. So, it really is now a case of just making sure that we feed EASA with everything they need before we get the ticket.” Mills declines to speculate on how near Rolls is to winning certification. “We’re in the hands of the authorities, but it’s going very well. We really are not very far off,” he adds. Due to power the prototype Falcon 10X for its first flight in coming months, the Pearl 10X was selected by the French aircraft manufacturer in 2021. First running in 2022, the 18,000 lb.-thrust engine was flight tested by Rolls-Royce in 2024 and is due to enter service on the new aircraft in late 2027. UH-60 Black Hawk Cargo Drone With Clamshell Nose Breaks Cover (Updated) The new U-Hawk can lug thousands of pounds of cargo internally that would never fit in a standard Black Hawk, and launch scores of its own drones and munitions. Joseph Trevithick Published Oct 13, 2025 10:00 AM EDT Note: See photos and video in the original article. Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin Sikorsky has unveiled a new, fully uncrewed version of the Black Hawk helicopter with a completely transformed front end that swaps out the cockpit for clamshell doors. Depending on how it is configured, what has been dubbed the U-Hawk can move thousands of pounds of outsized cargo internally and slung underneath, deploy uncrewed ground vehicles, and fire dozens of “launched effects” like surveillance and reconnaissance drones and loitering munitions. A U-Hawk demonstrator, converted from an ex-U.S. Army UH-60L, is on display at the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) main annual conference in Washington, D.C., which opened today and at which TWZ is in attendance. Sikorsky, now a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, also refers to the design as the S-70 Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), with S-70 being the company’s internal model number for H-60 variants. The U-Hawk leverages the company’s past work on a Pilot Optional Vehicle (OPV) version of the Black Hawk, which has been flying for years, as well as its MATRIX autonomy flight control software. Development of MATRIX first began more than a decade ago and was buoyed early on by support from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program. “A lot of our customers said, hey, I need to be able to move things into theater, and I need to be able to move them in mass. And a lot of the drones out there may be able to carry 100 pounds, may be able to carry 500 pounds,” Rich Benton, Sikorsky Vice President and General Manager, told TWZ and other outlets during a press call earlier this month. “We look introspectively, what do we have? Well, we actually have an autonomous Black Hawk today, our OPV, optionally piloted. But why couldn’t we just take the cockpit out of that and make that a UAS?” The preceding OPV Black Hawk. Sikorsky “We conceived this idea [the U-Hawk], believe it not, at the last AUSA, talking to some of the folks from the Army and other services,” Igor Cherepinsky, Sikorsky Innovations Director, also told TWZ and other outlets during a separate call ahead of the opening of today’s conference. “We procured the [underlying UH-60L] aircraft towards the beginning of this year.” It took Sikorsky roughly 10 months to go from “concept to reality,” according to a company press release. The goal is for it to take flight for the first time next year. The U-Hawk has, so far, been an internally funded effort. The U-Hawk adaptation of the Black Hawk does do much more than simply remove the pilots and offers significantly greater capability than crewed versions for certain missions. The design also features a different hardware backend for the MATRIX autonomy package and a revised fly-by-wire control system compared to the previous OPV Black Hawk, which we will come back to later on. Still, the most eye-catching features of the new uncrewed version are its new front section and revised internal arrangement. “We have completely removed the cockpit, the pilot, and also the crew chief stations of the aircraft,” Ramsey Bentley, Sikorsky Advanced Programs Business Development Director, explained while speaking alongside Cherepinsky. “This gives us the entire cabin and cockpit area for either a logistics operation or mission support operations.” The U-Hawk, also known as the S-70UAS. Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin Sikorsky says the U-Hawk will also be able to “self-deploy” out to a range of 1,600 nautical miles and have a total unrefueled endurance of 14 hours. The press release today also says the uncrewed Black Hawk can “carry internal fuel tanks for increased range or extended time on station,” but it is unclear if this is required to meet the stated range and endurance figures, although that seems likely. Increased range while carrying a useful payload still opens up significant new opportunities, especially for operations across the broad expanses of the Pacific, but also elsewhere. Payload-wise, Sikorsky expects the uncrewed Black Hawk to be able to carry up to 7,000 pounds internally or 9,000 pounds slung underneath, or a mix of both up to a maximum rating of 10,000 pounds. The company says this is roughly in line with the payload capacity, by weight, of a standard crewed UH-60L. For helicopters, in general, the maximum allowable payload on any particular sortie is also heavily dependent on environmental factors like altitude and temperature. A standard UH-60L prepares to lift a Humvee during training. US Army The U-Hawk’s revised configuration gives it approximately 25 percent more physical space inside for cargo and/or other payloads compared to existing UH-60 variants. This is important as payloads often have dimensional restrictions, as well as weight-based ones. Some cargoes that would have been previously slung underneath could be carried internally, which would drastically increase the range at which they could be delivered. “The payload, I think, is what really distinguishes this from competitors. … So one can start to imagine the missions that that U-Hawk can begin to solve,” Beth Parcella, Sikorsky Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, noted while speaking together with Vice President and General Manager Benton. “Everything from delivering swarms of drones, from launched effects ‘quivers,’ carrying cargo in a contested logistics environment, driving on and off uncrewed ground vehicles, operating in a counter-UAS function, [and] roll-on and roll-off of supplies.” “So there’s a tremendous amount of flexibility with this aircraft,” she added. When it comes to “launched effects,” or LEs, this is a catch-all term that the U.S. military currently uses to refer to uncrewed aerial systems that can be fired from other aerial platforms, as well as ones on the ground or at sea. Sikorsky and its parent company, Lockheed Martin, are currently using the Army’s requirements for three tiers of short, medium, and long-range launched effects as a baseline for the development of the launch ‘quivers’ and what gets loaded in them. LEs in all three categories could be configured to perform surveillance and reconnaissance and electronic warfare missions, as well as be employed as loitering munitions or act as decoys. A graphic the US Army released in the past offering a very general overview of how multiple different types of air-launched effects (ALE) might fit into a broader operational vision. US Army “What this quiver does is, depending upon the size of the launched effect, it’s able to hold 24 to 50 different launched effects in the back of the aircraft,” Bentley said. “The quiver is actually designed for what would be the Army short-range and medium-range-sized LEs. The long-range [ones] probably ends up going out on the [stub] wing, like you’ve probably seen [in] some other demonstrations.” An ALTIUS-600 drone is launched from a UH-60 Black Hawk at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. Courtesy photo provided by Yuma Proving Ground Bentley also noted that the quivers will be able to carry mixed loads of different types of LEs at once, including types developed by other companies. Parcella did not elaborate on the potential “counter-UAS function” for the U-Hawk, but indicated that it could be tied to its launched effects capabilities. The U-Hawk might be able to carry other types of weaponry, as well as electronic warfare systems, that could be employed against hostile drones, as well as other targets. A look at the ‘quiver’ mock-up inside the U-Hawk demonstrator on display at the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2025 Annual Symposium. Jamie Hunter As noted, general cargo-carrying is also envisioned as a key role for the uncrewed Black Hawk. Sikorsky says the U-Hawk will be able to carry up to four U.S. military-standard Joint Modular Intermodal Containers (JMIC), spread between the main cabin and slung underneath, compared to the two that existing Black Hawk variants can lug around today. It will also be able to carry a single one of the standard ammunition ‘pods’ used in the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), as well as a pair of Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) in their launch canisters, according to today’s press release. The Army operates both the M270 and M142. The Marine Corps has HIMARSs, as well, and is also fielding NSM in a ground-launched configuration. A crewed US Army Black Hawk carries an MLRS/HIMARS ammunition pod slung underneath during an exercise in Jordan in 2024. US Army The U-Hawk’s clamshell doors allow for the loading and unloading of cargo even while the rotors are still turning. There is also a folding ramp to help ease the process, as well as allow for the deployment of UGVs. A 6×6 Hunter Wolf UGV from HDT Global is seen on the ramp of the U-Hawk demonstrator on display at the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2025 Annual Symposium. Jamie Hunter All of “this is designed to do direct support of the maneuver commander. So, as the Army is conducting an air assault, you would envision the U-Hawk flying ahead of the soldiers,” Bentley explained. “As the U-Hawk comes into the landing zone area, first it dispenses launched effects out of the sides of the aircraft, out of our launched effects quiver. And then it lands, it disembarks the UGV, and then the aircraft departs. And this is done ahead of any soldiers putting boots on the ground.” A rendering of U-Hawks conducting an air-assault mission. Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin “You’ve probably heard about Gen. [James] Rainey, the AFC [Army Futures Command] commander, talking about metal-on-metal first contact,” Bentley said. “This is Sikorsky focused on that commander’s need, the soldiers’ need, to put these launched effects, UGVs, and UAS in the battle space, ahead of us, putting soldiers in harm’s way.” The U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps are also both especially interested in using vertical takeoff and landing-capable uncrewed aircraft for logistics missions, including the resupply of forces in higher-threat areas. The Marines are already pursuing a multi-tier family of Aerial Logistics Connector (ALC) platforms, and have started to field drones to meet the lowest-end Tactical Resupply Unmanned Aircraft System (TRUAS) requirement. Bentley also said the company envisions U-Hawks performing non-military missions, including supporting wildfire fighting and disaster relief operations. A number of civilian operators already fly crewed H-60 variants in these roles. Regardless of the missions it is configured for, Sikorsky is designing the U-Hawk to provide all of its capabilities with minimal training and sustainment requirements. Sikorsky says individuals without aviation-specific skill sets can be readily trained to operate the uncrewed Black Hawk via touchscreen tablet-like devices. The MATRIX system has a demonstrated ability to get platforms like the OPV Black Hawk between set waypoints in a highly autonomous manner. “Upshot of this is that you can operate this aircraft with a minimally trained operator, and a tablet, if that’s what you want. We [are] obviously also providing a way to be integrated into [a] bigger airspace picture, be it civil or military airspace, where one can exercise more control over the aircraft,” Cherepinsky explained. “If you tell it to go from airport A to airport B, for example, and it knows it’s in civil airspace, it will take the right routes, follow the right civil procedures. If it knows it’s a military airspace, it will do what it thinks is right for the military airspace.” “In some cases, [it] may not be what exactly — what you want. So, we’re providing this level of adjustable autonomy where you can have a local operator on the ground, for example, operating the aircraft as a crane, right, moving around the field, moving things around the field, loading the aircraft,” he added. “You can hand it off to a more central UAS command, where they have a lot more fine detail over … speeds, altitudes, and whatnot. It’s really, really up to our customer how they want to operate these vehicles.” Sikorsky is also presenting U-Hawk as a very cost-effective option, even compared to what it previously demonstrated with the OPV Black Hawk. “Our S-70 OPV aircraft has been flying for a number of years,” Cherepinsky said. “It’s optionally piloted. It’s [a] human-rated fly-by-wire system. It’s our autonomy system. It comes at a certain price point.” He pointed out that many of the systems of the OPV demonstrator utilized available components sourced from existing suppliers rather than ones designed with that aircraft specifically in mind. This included the hardware used to run the MATRIX system, which he described as being more than what Sikorsky necessarily wanted or needed for that application. As he mentioned, the systems also had to meet standards for an aircraft designed to carry humans, which is not something U-Hawk has to take into account at present. “On the U-Hawk, we actually did a lot more vertical integration,” according to Cherepinsky. “We designed our own vehicle management computers, our actuation, and the price point of the entire system, not just the aircraft, is much, much lower. As an example, our vehicle management computers are 10s of 1000s of dollars, not hundreds, as they are on a human-rated aircraft.” The current cost proposition for the U-Hawks also includes savings from reusing existing UH-60L airframes. The U.S. Army has been steadily retiring these versions and selling them off as it acquires newer, more capable M variants. The Army had been working to bring some 760 L models up to an improved standard called the UH-60V, but axed plans for further conversions last year as part of a larger shakeup in the service’s aviation priorities. As such, hundreds more UH-60Ls are expected to become available in the coming years. Other older H-60s that could be turned into uncrewed versions might become available as other operators around the world begin upgrading their fleets, as well. “We certainly can [build all-new U-Hawks]. It all depends on the economics and price point,” Cherepinsky said. It is worth noting that the U.S. Army is currently envisioning future air assaults, especially in the context of a potential future high-end fight with China in the Pacific, stretching over distances beyond what the U-Hawk could cover. The ongoing war in Ukraine also continues to offer particularly good examples of how growing threat ecosystems are increasingly imposing significant operational limitations on the use of crewed helicopters. The pursuit of launched effects within the Army and elsewhere across the U.S. military directly reflects increasingly more capable and long-range adversary anti-air capabilities. The Army also notably canceled plans to acquire a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA), which was set to be a crewed helicopter of some kind, last year, citing threat concerns and plans to focus more on uncrewed platforms. “So, I’ll tell you up front, I can’t be specific on the things we’re doing to address survivability. And survivability has been an issue for aviation, for vertical aviation, for a long time,” Benton said during the previous press call in response to a direct question from this author about what might be in the works to help uncrewed and crewed Black Hawks address growing threats going forward. “We are leveraging the entire power of Lockheed Martin … what is [sic] the technologies that Lockheed Martin has and can bring to bear to provide survivability on those aircraft. Those are the things we’re continuing to look at.” US Army UH-60 Black Hawks take off during an air assault training mission. US Army At the same time, crewed helicopters are not going away, and tradeoffs will have to be made. For many missions, the U-Hawk removes the biggest risk factor in terms of combat losses, a human crew, while also offering a significant boost in some capabilities. The uncrewed Black Hawk also proposes a way to do all of that at a lower cost that also leverages extremely well-established logistics and sustainment chains. This is particularly significant for the U.S. Army, which expects to continue flying H-60s on some level through at least 2070. U-Hawks could also take over certain missions in lower-threat environments from crewed platforms, presenting the potential for additional operational flexibility and cost benefits. Being able to autonomously move even a few hundred pounds of critical cargo, such as spare parts, between far flung and remote locations separated by many hundreds of miles, without the need for a fully qualified aircrew, could be a boon even in lower threat areas. The fact that it can move much larger loads internally, without the range penalties of sling loading, is an even bigger sell. All this could be done without adding a new type to the Army’s shrinking helicopter fleet and leveraging the H-60/S-70’s global supply chain is also a very attractive factor, as well. Those same attributes underscore the sales potential of the uncrewed Black Hawk to non-military operators, too. “We’re really excited. And honestly, some of us are thinking, gosh, why didn’t we think about this five years ago?” Parcella said on the press call earlier this month. Update: We got a walk-around tour of the U-Hawk on the floor of the Army Association’s symposium, check it out here. GE Aerospace Prepares Passports for Global 8000 Liftoff The OEM has switched its production from Global 7500 engines to those for the Model 8000 GE Aerospace has converted its Passport engine production line to accommodate Bombardier’s soon-to-be-certified Global 8000. By Curt Epstein Business Aviation Services Editor October 13, 2025 GE Aerospace reached a milestone with the shipment of its 500th Passport engine. That unit also represents the first for the Bombardier Global 8000 that GE has shipped since it received FAA and Transport Canada authorization on the powerplant. EASA approval is pending. Set to succeed the Global 7500 as Bombardier’s flagship, the Global 8000 is expected to be certified by year-end and will offer speeds of up to Mach 0.95 and a range of up to 8,000 nm. The 19,000-pound-thrust Passport 20 powers both variants but was modified to enable the enhanced performance over the Global 7500’s 7,700-nm range and Mach 0.925 Mmo. GE executives have described the updates primarily as software alterations rather than “turbo-machinery” changes, unlocking potential already built into the engine. This includes improving specific fuel consumption to enable the Global 8000’s longer range, which is also enabled by the upgrade of the ratings plug. “It literally is a plug with pins in it that you screw into the Fadec,” said Melvyn Heard, business aviation general manager for GE’s commercial engines and services business. “This, combined with the software update, gives you the capabilities for the engine to get the capability of a Global 8000.” Going forward, all of the Passport engines will be configured thusly, and Bombardier will issue a service bulletin that will allow its Global 7500 customers to upgrade their engines to the 8000 standard. Entering service in 2018, the Passport now equips more than 220 Global 7500s, the fastest business jet. The engine has amassed more than 600,000 hours in service, with 200,000 cycles and a 99.9% dispatch reliability. “It’s hard to believe even after being in service for almost 7 years now, we are still the most fuel-efficient engine in its class, even though new products have been certified, said Heard. In AIN’s annual product support survey, the Passport scored highest among business jet engines this year, while its maker retained the top spot for product support. “When you look at what we’ve done with this engine, we always envisioned that there would be greater capacity that the program would need,” Heard told AIN. “What we’ve been doing since we launched the program is make sure that capability was in there, so now we can take advantage of us overdelivering on fuel efficiency of the engine, having thrust capability in the engine, as well as the reliability that customers are looking for, and now all that has already been built in.” GE assembles the Passport at its Lafayette, Indiana, facility alongside the commercial LEAP engine, and in terms of production, it is capable of meeting Bombardier’s needs from a capacity standpoint, according to Heard. He noted that more than 75% of its engine customers are enrolled in its OnPoint maintenance services program, which monitors engine data to manage engine health. “Imagine a fleet of Passport engines out there streaming a terabyte of data at any point in time,” he stated. “We can now gather insights from that data coming in and be able to push that back out to our customers to help them proactively manage their fleets. When we see an anomaly on one engine, we can understand if that is a unique thing that happened on that engine or if there’s something more fleetwide we need to go understand.” This week at NBAA-BACE 2025, the engine maker is highlighting its FlightPulse subscription software application, which is now approaching 60,000 users, an increase of 156% since 2022. That number is expected to climb higher as new customers, such as NetJets, are onboarded. Created by GE’s software as a service (SaaS) team, the app contains pre- and post-flight modules to inform a pilot’s experience through all stages of flight as part of their electronic flight bag. It gives pilots safety and fuel insights on their own flight data, as well as anonymized safety data sharing from across the industry. “FlightPulse has become one of those ‘must-have’ apps, as more and more pilots recognize how insights from their own flight data can help them become better pilots,” said Andrew Coleman, president and general manager of GE’s SaaS division. Bombardier Selects Fort Wayne for Next Service Center Nearly 65,000-sq-ft center to be operational next year Bombardier's next location in Fort Wayne will be able to service the full company product line. By Kerry Lynch Editor, AIN monthly magazine October 8, 2025 Bombardier’s next major aircraft service center expansion will be in the U.S. Midwest with a 64,500-sq-ft facility planned for Fort Wayne International Airport in Indiana, the company announced today. Anticipated to open in the second half of 2026, the center is the latest of a string of service center expansions the Montreal-headquartered business jet manufacturer has undertaken over the past decade. In August, Bombardier announced it was planning a multi-phase, multi-site expansion, but did not at the time detail specifics of those ambitions, only saying projects would roll out in the coming years. Today’s reveal “kicks off Bombardier’s previously announced multi-phase, large-scale U.S. expansion initiative,” the company noted. To result in the creation of 100 jobs over the next few years, the facility will be equipped to support the full lineup of Bombardier business jets. The facility will have space to accommodate up to six aircraft and offer a range of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, modifications, avionics installations, and AOG support. “The U.S. is a key market for Bombardier, with nearly 3,000 aircraft in operation. Growing demand from the Midwest made Fort Wayne a natural choice for our newest service center, which will serve as a strategic hub for customers from across the region and beyond,” said Paul Sislian, executive v-p of aftermarket services and strategy for Bombardier. “This facility strengthens our service footprint across the U.S., supports our long-term vision for economic growth and local job creation, and reflects the steadfast commitment of our regional partners.” Saying the center is the result of a collaborative effort with state and local officials, Bombardier executives announced their plans for the Fort Wayne location alongside several Indiana and local dignitaries: Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, state Secretary of Commerce David Adams, Fort Wayne Mayor Sharon Tucker, and Fort Wayne International Airport executives. “Bombardier’s investment in Fort Wayne is a testament to Indiana’s pro-growth environment, skilled workforce, and strong infrastructure,” said Gov. Braun. “This new facility will create high-wage jobs and boost the regional economy for years to come." The company noted that with the upcoming entry into service of the Global 8000, it is focused on strengthening its U.S. capabilities in key hubs, complementing its facilities, including Dallas, Tucson, Hartford, Wichita, and Miami Opa Locka. Scientists Forge New “Superalloy” So Powerful It Could Revolutionize Jet Engines and Power Plants By The Editorial Team 25 October 2025 à 10:12 Airlines chase fuel savings in fractions, and power plants fight heat like a slow, grinding opponent. Materials blink first, not designers. So when a new “superalloy” shows up looking calm at temperatures that make most metals slump, the stakes shift from marginal gains to a whole new playbook. A senior engineer beside me tapped the engine nacelle and said, almost gently, “Everything here is a compromise with temperature.” You could hear the respect in his voice, and maybe a small fear too, the kind that keeps you careful. That memory snapped into focus again this week, as researchers unveiled a forged-and-printed superalloy built to stay strong in heat that ruins ordinary metals. One line from the lab notes stuck like a burr. A promise hiding in plain sight. What makes this “superalloy” different The new alloy wasn’t pitched as magic. It was presented as a better deal with physics. In lab tests, the material kept its backbone far past the point where conventional alloys start to creep, and it built a tight, glassy skin that slowed oxygen from chewing it up. That means fewer band-aids—less desperate cooling air, fewer layers of fragile ceramic paint—and more raw, high-temperature muscle in the metal itself. Jet engines are already playing an edgy game with heat. Turbine inlet temperatures push into a zone where the interior must be fed with cold air like IV drips, just to keep blades alive. Every extra degree of usable heat feeds efficiency, and across fleets that can translate to millions of dollars in fuel saved and tons of CO2 avoided. The new superalloy hints at higher ceilings with fewer tricks, the way a climber reaches a ledge and suddenly doesn’t need three pieces of gear to feel safe. Under stress at red-hot conditions, many metals stretch, fatigue, and then lose their grip. The standout claim here is stubbornness—strength that lingers above 1,000°C, slow creep rates measured over long hours, and a stable microstructure that doesn’t fall apart when the heat stays on. It’s the difference between sprinting through a furnace and living there. The researchers point to a balanced recipe and treatment cycle that grow nanoscale particles inside the metal, like tiny scaffolds bracing a cathedral from within. The cathedral doesn’t just stand. It breathes. There’s craft in this alloy, not just chemistry. Think multi element metals melted and refined, then shaped by high-energy printing to freeze a fine grain pattern, followed by a heat-treatment that coaxes out strengthening precipitates. Those nanoscale particles act like roadblocks for dislocations—the microscopic slips that turn metal soft under stress. The result is a metal that shrugs off heat longer, forms a protective oxide skin, and keeps its shape where others sag. *That’s the quiet power of microstructure: it tells atoms how to behave when the room catches fire.* You don’t need a doctorate to spot the signal. Look for three numbers when a new alloy is announced: the temperature where it keeps most of its strength, how slowly it creeps under constant load, and how its surface resists oxidation in hot, dirty gas. If those are strong, the rest can follow. And yes, We’ve all had that moment when a headline felt bigger than the data underneath. **Let’s be honest: nobody really does that every day.** The good news here is the lab data reads like a steady heartbeat, not a drum solo. Researchers also flagged what it will take next: blades that survive not just heat, but vibration, thermal cycling, and the brutal chemistry of real fuel. “We didn’t set out to break a record,” a lead scientist said. “We set out to make an engineer’s life easier at 1,000 degrees.” That line carries weight because it points at practicality—fabrication routes, weldability, and repair. For the curious, here’s a quick pocket guide to what matters when you read the datasheet: Learn more • Hot strength: how much load it carries above 1,000°C without softening. • Creep life: hours to a certain strain under high heat and stress. • Oxidation rate: how fast the surface gains weight from oxygen attack. • Fatigue under thermal cycles: survive hot–cold–hot without cracking. • Manufacturability: can you cast, print, and machine it at scale? Why this could ripple far beyond engines Think about what happens if a turbine swallows more heat with less cooling air. Efficiency climbs. Emissions dip. Maintenance windows stretch. In civil aviation, that’s quieter margins and fares that don’t need to chase fuel spikes so hard. In power, it’s cleaner kilowatts without waiting for new plants to open. **That’s the quiet promise tucked inside this superalloy: hotter, cleaner, cheaper kilowatts.** The bigger picture stretches to ships, rockets, even concentrated solar towers, where receivers roast all day and anything that lasts longer changes the math. New F-35 Maintenance Center Opened in Norway Norwegian F-35 in Iceland. Photo credits: www.wsj.com News A new maintenance center for F-35 fighter jets, owned by Kongsberg, has been opened in the Norwegian city of Rugge. This is a national aviation hub that will be a key element in maintaining the combat readiness of the Norwegian F-35. The official opening ceremony took place on October 23 with the participation of State Secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Defense Marte Gerhardsen. The new facility will provide in-depth maintenance, modernization, and improvements to the aircraft in accordance with the Ministry of Defense’s needs and priorities. It complements the Eurland base’s capabilities, where basic maintenance of fighter aircraft is carried out. Opening ceremony of the new F-35 maintenance hub in the Norwegian city of Rugge. October 23, 2025. Photo credits: Kongsberg Previously, medium-level F-35 maintenance was carried out in Cameri, Italy. Having its own infrastructure in Rügge will allow Norway to perform this work independently, thereby strengthening domestic logistics chains and increasing aircraft operational availability. The approximately 5,000 m² center includes several technical docks and is located next to the existing F-135 engine hub, which is due to open in 2020. When fully operational, both facilities will employ more than 200 people. Leap to Quiet Supersonic: X-59 QueSST Takes to Skies for First Time Vladislav V. October 28, 2025 X-59 QueSST from Lockheed Martin. Photo credits: Jarod M. Hamilton. America’s newest supersonic aircraft, the Lockheed Martin X-59 QueSST, has made its maiden flight. This was reported by the monitoring service Flightradar24. It is not yet known whether the aircraft has broken the supersonic barrier. However, the first flight was probably dedicated to checking the main flight systems – control, avionics, landing gear and other components. The American aviation observer Jarod M. Hamilton published photos of the X-59 during a test flight on his X page. As is usually the case with experimental aircraft, the tests were conducted with the landing gear released. The QueSST (Quiet SuperSonic Technology) program aims to develop technologies that will significantly reduce the noise level of supersonic aircraft. This will open up the possibility of supersonic flights over populated areas, which is currently prohibited by international regulations. The noise reduction of the X-59 QueSST is achieved due to the special aerodynamic shape of the airframe, which minimizes the number and strength of shock waves on the aircraft surface. Among the key solutions is an elongated, sharp nose section that helps smooth out the sound impact. Even those waves that do form should be much less intense than those of conventional supersonic aircraft. The experimental aircraft, which is 28.7 meters long and has a wingspan of 9 meters, is accelerated by an F414-GE-100 turbojet engine. The Boeing 7M7 - The Proposed Future Boeing Aircraft To Replace The 737 MAX and 797 | Never Built The middle of the market is the mythical passenger capacity between 220 passengers and 270 passengers, and a range of 5,000 nautical miles. Currently, there is no aircraft that can best suit it. Either the plane is too small and has too small a range, like the 737, or it is too big and is too expensive to operate, like the Boeing 787. In the past, airlines operated a Boeing 757 in this space, but today there is no aircraft built, underproduction, or planned to serve 220-270 passengers. Airbus does come close with its new Airbus A321XLR, it has the range of 4,700 and can fit 220 passengers - but no more. Boeing had successfully extended its Boeing 737 series longer and longer since it first flew in the 1960s. The original had a length of 94 ft or 29 meters to the latest Boeing 737 MAX resting at a comfortable 143.7 ft a43.8 ms. That's almost a 50% increase, which has had the benefit of 100 more seats onboard. But alas, despite carrying up to 230 passengers - it still doesn't solve the middle of the market problem. You can't make the 737 any longer otherwise the tail will strike the runway when it takes off. The very first difference would be that the 7m7 would feature an elliptical cabin. This means an oval shape, almost squashed if looked through a cross-section. Curt Lewis