July 22, 2026 - No. 28 In This Issue : The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently in the final stages of approving the Boeing 737 MAX 7 and 737 MAX 10 variants. : GE Aerospace Marks Hybrid-Electric First With Saab 340B : Clark: Emirates Will Not Take Initial Batch Of 777-9s : Shield AI and GE Aerospace successfully tested the X-BAT engine : New Boeing aircraft development hampered by backlog of existing orders, says CEO : Boeing, Lufthansa and Rolls-Royce partner to improve fuel efficiency, reduce noise : Pratt In Talks With Weapons Primes For RDE Flight Tests : TJ150 missile engine completes tests with nearly 60% 3D-printed hardware : FAA expects to certify two Boeing variants very soon : US: Open-fan GE engine targets 20% jet fuel cut as full-scale testing begins The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently in the final stages of approving the Boeing 737 MAX 7 and 737 MAX 10 variants. [1] Certification Timeline The FAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have made significant progress toward clearing the two remaining models of the MAX family. According to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, the expected timeline for each variant includes: [1, 2] • Boeing 737 MAX 7: The smallest variant is expected to achieve full type certification this summer. • Boeing 737 MAX 10: The largest variant is currently finishing up its final stage of flight testing and is on track for approval before the end of the year. [1, 2, 3] Parallel Regulatory Milestone The push to certify these variants aligns with a broader shift in oversight. The FAA announced that it will allow Boeing to fully resume issuing airworthiness certificates for all newly built 737 MAX and 787 Dreamliner jets. [1, 2, 3] Regulators originally stripped Boeing of this self-certification authority following the historical MAX groundings and quality issues. After testing an alternating weekly validation system with federal inspectors, the agency reported consistent production quality, allowing Boeing to take back the administrative responsibility under ongoing government oversight. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] If you are following Boeing's commercial updates, would you like to know more about the production caps or the delivery timelines for major buyers like Southwest Airlines? [1] GE Aerospace Marks Hybrid-Electric First With Saab 340B Guy Norris July 20, 2026 GE Aerospace's Saab 340B testbed, nicknamed “Gertrude,” is in the flying display at the Farnborough Airshow equipped with a hybrid-electric engine on the starboard side. Credit: Mark Wagner/Aviation-Images FARNBOROUGH, England—GE Aerospace has flown its modified Saab 340B megawatt-class hybrid-electric testbed at 30,000 ft., representing a milestone for an electric propulsion system operating at standard commercial airline altitudes. The aircraft, which is on show at the Farnborough Airshow after being flown across the Atlantic from the U.S., incorporates a fully integrated megawatt-class hybrid-electric propulsion system in a modified nacelle in the No.2 right engine position, and retains the standard GE CT7 turboprop in the left position. Developed through the NASA Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project in collaboration with Boeing and Vermont-based electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft developer Beta Technologies, the first hybrid-electric flight above 30,000 ft. was completed on May 20. Commenting at Farnborough on NASA’s contribution, agency administrator Jared Isaacman said: “For nearly seven decades, NASA has taken on the near impossible, solved very hard technical problems, and helped move new capabilities into the hands of American industry. We're doing it again today with a new generation of hybrid-electric propulsion systems that can improve efficiency, expand capability, and potentially contribute to an exciting new future in air travel.” “When NASA began exploring this technology nearly 15 years ago, many questioned whether it could ever become practical at scale,” Isaacman said. “We spent years working through the hardest technical problems: electrical components, batteries, size, weight, thermal management, and the power systems needed for megawatt class performance and make it a reality. Now, alongside GE Aerospace, we made those systems lighter, more efficient, and ready for the demands of flight.” Ground tests of the integrated propulsion system in 2022 at NASA's electric aircraft test bed at the Neil Armstrong test facility in Ohio, simulated operations at 45,000 ft. “But now we're moving out of the lab and into practical application,” Isaacman said. “The engine GE Aerospace is demonstrating integrated electric motors, a gas turbine, and energy storage capabilities into megawatt-class hybrid-electric propulsion powertrain for the kinds of aircraft millions of Americans rely upon every single day,” he added. Lessons learned from the EPFD program Hybrid-electric technology will also inform the design of the Open Fan under development by GE with CFM International joint venture partner Safran. The hybrid-electric system incorporates GE Aerospace-developed motor/generators, power converters and inverters, controllers and Avio Aero gearboxes. Fitted with Dowty propellers, Unison heat exchangers and torque sensing, the aircraft includes batteries provided by BAE Systems. Beta Technologies served as the systems integrator and pilots from the eVTOL developer ferried the aircraft to the airshow, operating in hybrid-electric mode during each leg of the journey. Originating at Beta’s flight test site in Plattsburgh, New York, the transatlantic journey began with stops at Goose Bay, Canada; Nuuk, Greenland; Keflavik, Iceland and Wick, Scotland, before terminating in Bournemouth, England. “The very first time we turned on the hybrid system, it worked exactly as planned on the aircraft,” said Christine Andrews, hybrid-electric leader at GE Aerospace. The flight test campaign, which began on May 3, “was wildly successful,” she added. By May 20 “we were able to operate the hybrid system in flight on the Saab 340 at over 30,000 feet altitude, both motored and generated at full power,” said Andrews. “We used the hybrid system to get to a higher altitude than what the Saab is rated for or can go to on its own CT7 power and sustain that for two hours.” “We were so confident in the system that we did ferry the Saab 340 over here, and we used the hybrid system on every leg of the ferry flights,” she said. “Our minimum viable was 30,000 ft. continuous operation. We've hit every technical milestone that we wanted to, but when you are able to be this successful this quickly, you want to see how much further you can push it. We have got a few more things we want to do when we get back, and then we have a few events that we want to take the aircraft to yet this year before we determine its end fate,” Andrews said. GE said lessons continue to be learned which will be critical for future hybrid propulsion systems. “We understand the system—GE did the battery system management, the thermal management system associated with it, all the controls that come along with it,” Andrews said. “Understanding how that worked across the flight envelope, where we may want to use batteries, where they would buy their way onto the cycle for the foreseeable future, and what we would deem is required in the way of advancements in either batteries or fuel cells is all useful. But just being able to know we can operate the system as designed, whether it's battery or fuel cell, from lab to flight, is a key hallmark of the program,” she added. The experience will pave the way for hybrid-electric application on RISE added Arjan Hegeman, vice president of future flight engineering at GE Aerospace. “The really high voltage, massive wattage power in that motor generator at altitude is really a first. These power and voltage levels are unlikely to be the first step in a narrowbody platform, but demonstrating this aircraft with effectively the equivalent of three CT7 engines instead of just two gives an idea of the amount of power that we're talking about here.” “Now making that work at altitude, downscaling it to lower levels, is the easy part,” Hegeman said. “We now have this massive understanding from an operational perspective, but also from an overall electronic system perspective at those levels at that commercial flight altitude. That sets us up really well for the future and how to deploy this in RISE,” he added. Clark: Emirates Will Not Take Initial Batch Of 777-9s Alan Dron July 21, 2026 Boeing 777-9. Credit: Boeing FARNBOROUGH—Emirates will reject the first 10 or 11 of its huge Boeing 777X order because of their age and the number of modifications made to them, the airline’s president Tim Clark said at the show. Speaking at a media round table at the air show, Clark said the Dubai-based carrier had informed Boeing of its decision. Emirates has 270 777-9s on order, with the first scheduled to enter service in Q2 2027. The 777X has experienced multiple delays in its development and service entry; Emirates initially expected to take the first aircraft in 2020, around the time the COVID pandemic struck. Those initial aircraft were produced as long ago as 2019: “If we were to take those aircraft in Q1 2027, they will be eight years old,” Clark said on Tuesday. That would be approximately half of their expected lifetime in Emirates service, he added, and as such, “They’re of no use to anybody. “We’ve intimated to Boeing that’s not the way to go.” Clark said, adding that if he had been running Boeing, “At some point I would have provisioned for their write-off and I would have charged that to my P&L [profit and loss accounts]. There’s no point leaving them on your balance sheet.” Boeing might be able to sell them on at a hugely reduced price to another airline, he added: “That’s the commercial reality now.” However, he said he expected Boeing to scrap the affected aircraft. Boeing did not respond with comment at the show, but there have been several changes of senior leadership at the US company since its production problems began a few years ago. In 2024, Kelly Ortberg was appointed Boeing Company president, and Stephanie Pope became Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO and Boeing Company EVP. Boeing gained FAA Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) Phase 4B approval for the 777-9 earlier this year, which Pope described as a “a big, big milestone” toward certification. Pope also told ATW earlier this year that 737 MAX-7, 787-10 and 777-9 certifications were her top priorities. Shield AI and GE Aerospace successfully tested the X-BAT engine 10:15 PM Shield AI and GE Aerospace have successfully completed functional checkouts and engine light-off testing for the modified propulsion system powering the X-BAT autonomous combat aircraft. This critical engineering milestone clears a direct path toward the uncrewed fighter's first vertical flight. [1, 2] Test Highlights and Engine Integration • System Integration: Engineers successfully mated the advanced Axisymmetric Vectoring Exhaust Nozzle (AVEN) with the foundational GE F110-GE-129 afterburning turbofan engine. [1, 2] • Light-Off Success: Static ground testing verified system performance, proving the integrated controls can successfully execute engine startup and baseline operations. [1] • Thrust Architecture: The vectoring nozzle directs the engine's 29,500 pounds of force downward, allowing the heavy platform to execute runway-independent vertical takeoffs and landings. [1, 2, 3] Program Roadmap The joint teams plan to continue iterating on the system to optimize future versions for weight and speed. Following this static validation, Shield AI is targeting the end of 2026 for the first full-scale autonomous vertical flight of the X-BAT prototype. [1, 2, 3] Would you like to explore how Shield AI’s Hivemind software will manage flight controls during the upcoming vertical takeoff tests? [1, 2] New Boeing aircraft development hampered by backlog of existing orders, says CEO CEO Kelly Ortberg said Boeing is investing 'time and money' in preparations for a new design By Sophia Compton FOXBusiness FOX Business Flash top headlines for July 20 Check out what's clicking on FoxBusiness.com. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said the global aerospace company has begun early work on a possible new airplane design but is not yet ready to move forward. Ortberg, who became president and CEO in August 2024, said Boeing is spending "time and money" evaluating its options and preparing to introduce a new design when the company is ready, according to The Wall Street Journal. "We don’t have a firm configuration right now," Ortberg said ahead of the Farnborough International Airshow near London. "We’re evaluating trade studies. You create a baseline, and you evaluate things against the baseline, and then you change." Before launching a new airplane, Boeing wants to improve its finances, develop the necessary technology and deliver aircraft that are already behind schedule, Ortberg said. "Certainly, getting our financial house in order is a part of our being ready," Ortberg said. "That’s going to take another couple years." Boeing is currently focused on delivering delayed models, including its long-awaited 777X wide-body jet, The Wall Street Journal reported. "Orders are not our challenge," Ortberg said. "Our challenge is getting these orders delivered." Boeing also kept the 777X in the U.S. rather than conducting demonstration flights at the Farnborough airshow while the aircraft awaits Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification, according to The Wall Street Journal. The FAA could approve Boeing’s 737 MAX 7 as soon as late July. Ortberg said he expects the larger MAX 10 to follow not long afterward, the outlet reported. Ortberg said airline customers want Boeing to focus on improving production and reliability across its current lineup before introducing a new jet, according to CNBC. Boeing and Airbus dominate the large commercial aircraft market, and a future Boeing airplane could help the company compete with Airbus’ A320 family, the outlet reported. The comments come as Boeing adds to its order book. In May, President Donald Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to order 200 Boeing jets during a high-level meeting in Beijing. Boeing, Lufthansa and Rolls-Royce partner to improve fuel efficiency, reduce noise By Teodor Stefan 18-07-2026 The testing, which begins later this month at Boeing’s site in Glasgow, Montana, is being conducted on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner that’s serving as Boeing’s 2026 ecoDemonstrator Explorer airplane. This Boeing 787-9 is scheduled to be delivered to Lufthansa at a later date and features Trent 1000 engines from Rolls-Royce. The testing is expected to run through mid-August. Being tested on these flights are: The Next Generation Inlet, a reduced-length engine inlet demonstrator with advanced acoustic treatments. The inlet enables the integration of more fuel-efficient engines onto future platforms, and reduces weight and drag while maintaining the acoustic performance. Modified departure and arrival procedures, including Intelligent Operations flight paths, which aim to reduce community noise around airports. These flight paths are algorithmically generated using multiple data sources to identify opportunities for fuel-efficiency and noise benefits. Since 2012, the Boeing ecoDemonstrator program has accelerated innovation by taking new technologies out of the lab and testing them in an operational environment to help solve real-world challenges for airlines and passengers. The ecoDemonstrator program has tested more than 260 technologies to enhance safety, reduce fuel use, emissions and noise and improve operational efficiency and the passenger experience. More information about the 2026 ecoDemonstrator test program. Pratt In Talks With Weapons Primes For RDE Flight Tests Guy Norris July 20, 2026 Rotating detonation engine. Credit: RTX FARNBOROUGH, England—Pratt & Whitney says it is in talks with “multiple weapons primes” to flight test its rotating detonation engine (RDE) technology following positive results from ground evaluations in 2025. Because the heat-release process is more compact in an RDE and occurs over a shorter distance, the overall propulsion system can be smaller, making it suitable for advanced missiles and effectors. Combustion in an RDE occurs as a detonation wave that travels around an annulus in a gap between coaxial cylinders. The detonation wave combusts the fuel-air mixture at supersonic speeds and at near-constant volume. This is a more efficient process than current jet engines, in which combustion occurs as a subsonic deflagration under constant pressure. “We continue to make really good progress on our RDEs,” Jill Albertelli, president of Pratt & Whitney Military Engines, said at the Farnborough Airshow here. Following early test results, Pratt said last year that it would make additional internal investments as it worked with the Department of Defense to accelerate a path to an aggressive series of integrated engine and vehicle ground tests. “We’re in close conversations with multiple weapons primes in this space, including Raytheon, to be able to bring a product configuration to flight tests very soon,” Albertelli says. Pratt conducted the initial ground tests under a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory contract announced in March 2022. The campaign was run jointly with parent company partners RTX Missiles & Defense as well as the RTX Technologies Research Center. TJ150 missile engine completes tests with nearly 60% 3D-printed hardware Pratt & Whitney validated its additively manufactured TJ150 engine, using 3D-printed parts to simplify production for cruise missile programs. By Aamir Khollam Innovation Jul 20, 2026 07:02 PM EST RTX TJ10 missile engine made with additive manufacturing (render) RTX Pratt & Whitney has completed demonstration testing of an additively manufactured version of its TJ150 turbojet engine, validating a production approach that could help the company build expendable propulsion systems faster as demand for cruise missiles and autonomous weapons continues to rise. The RTX business announced the milestone ahead of the Farnborough International Airshow, saying nearly 60% of the engine by volume now consists of 3D-printed parts. Engineers used the demonstration to evaluate how the printed hardware performed under operating conditions and whether it could withstand the thermal and mechanical loads expected during a mission. Faster engine production Unlike reusable aircraft engines that must remain in service for years, the TJ150 powers expendable systems that typically operate for only minutes or hours. That design philosophy allows manufacturers to prioritize rapid production, simpler assembly and lower manufacturing costs without compromising mission performance. Pratt & Whitney believes additive manufacturing can help achieve those goals by reducing the number of parts, shortening production timelines and making it easier to scale output. “For expendable engines like the TJ150, where missions can last minutes or hours, simplifying the design and scaling production quickly is essential to meeting rising demand,” said Jill Albertelli, president of Military Engines at Pratt & Whitney. She said additive manufacturing allows the company to move new engine designs from concept to operational capability more quickly. Pratt & Whitney is also applying lessons from the TJ150 program to future propulsion projects, including its Valox engine family. Engineers have steadily expanded the use of additive manufacturing throughout the program. More than 50 individual hot-section components have been consolidated into only a handful of printed parts, reducing assembly complexity and the number of potential failure points. The team also successfully tested a 3D-printed rotating turbine wheel before integrating it into the latest engine configuration. Supporting missile programs The TJ150 is a compact turbojet that produces more than 150 pounds of thrust while operating efficiently at high altitudes. Its small size allows it to power cruise missiles and other autonomous platforms where weight, packaging and fuel efficiency directly affect range and payload capacity. The engine already supports several missile applications, with Pratt & Whitney delivering more than 2,700 units to customers worldwide. Its modular design also enables production to scale as defense programs transition from development into higher-rate manufacturing. That capability became more important in March, when Pratt & Whitney received a follow-on contract from Leidos Dynetics to supply TJ150 engines for the AGM-190A small cruise missile. The award reinforced the engine’s role in the program while reflecting growing demand for compact propulsion systems across the defense sector. The company said additive manufacturing forms a key part of its long-term production strategy for the TJ150. Beyond reducing component counts, the approach broadens supply chain options, speeds manufacturing, and provides greater flexibility when increasing output. Successful demonstration testing shows the printed engine can meet operational requirements while supporting a faster and more scalable manufacturing model for future missile propulsion systems. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently in the final stages of approving the Boeing 737 MAX 7 and 737 MAX 10 variants. [1] Certification Timeline The FAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have made significant progress toward clearing the two remaining models of the MAX family. According to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, the expected timeline for each variant includes: [1, 2] • Boeing 737 MAX 7: The smallest variant is expected to achieve full type certification this summer. • Boeing 737 MAX 10: The largest variant is currently finishing up its final stage of flight testing and is on track for approval before the end of the year. [1, 2, 3] Parallel Regulatory Milestone The push to certify these variants aligns with a broader shift in oversight. The FAA announced that it will allow Boeing to fully resume issuing airworthiness certificates for all newly built 737 MAX and 787 Dreamliner jets. [1, 2, 3] Regulators originally stripped Boeing of this self-certification authority following the historical MAX groundings and quality issues. After testing an alternating weekly validation system with federal inspectors, the agency reported consistent production quality, allowing Boeing to take back the administrative responsibility under ongoing government oversight. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] If you are following Boeing's commercial updates, would you like to know more about the production caps or the delivery timelines for major buyers like Southwest Airlines? [1] US: Open-fan GE engine targets 20% jet fuel cut as full-scale testing begins CFM says its RISE technologies could cut fuel burn by more than 20% while improving durability and efficiency. Read Next: German firm debuts first 100+ qubit diamond-based quantum processors By Christopher McFadden Innovation Jul 19, 2026 07:33 AM EST Artist's impression of the open-fan engine. Safran CFM International (a joint GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines company) has announced that its revolutionary open-fan engine design is now moving from design to full-scale testing. This does not mean the engine will soon be ready for the market; rather, they are planning to test new technologies that could eventually be integrated into a new engine. According to GE, such an engine could be incorporated into a narrow-body aircraft by the 2030s. The engine, called Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE), was first unveiled in 2021 and has undergone extensive scaled testing. This is what CFM calls an “open-fan” engine, meaning the blades are not housed inside a nacelle or casing. This means that in an open fan, the fan blades are fully exposed to the elements. Removing the casing allows engineers to use a much larger fan without making the engine excessively heavy. Open fan engines reach a major milestone A larger fan can move more air while accelerating it less aggressively. That is generally a more efficient way of generating thrust, potentially reducing fuel consumption. CFM’s stated target is more than 20% lower fuel burn compared with engines currently in service. That would also mean approximately 20% lower carbon emissions when burning conventional jet fuel. As for the reported testing, CFM now plans to test full-size pieces under harsh conditions like simulated bird strikes, ice buildup, dust and debris ingestion, etc. These tests will be used to assess whether the engines are viable under real-world conditions and whether they can meet current aerospace standards. Curt Lewis