Wall Street Journal
• Andrew Tangel
The FAA expects tariffs to add about $100 million to its more than $12.5 billion air traffic control modernization program. Separately, the agency is narrowing an AI-assisted tool to real-time decision support initially, amid airline pushback, with longer-term plans to predict traffic flows and map routes days ahead.
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Joby Aviation says an aircraft equipped with its autonomy technology flew 3,199 miles from California to North Carolina, arriving in the Outer Banks without control inputs from the onboard safety pilot. The company described the flight as the first fully autonomous transcontinental flight across the United States.
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The FAA expects tariffs to add about $100 million to its more than $12.5 billion air traffic control modernization program. Separately, the agency is narrowing an AI-assisted tool to real-time decision support initially, amid airline pushback, with longer-term plans to predict traffic flows and map routes days ahead.
SpaceX has held internal discussions about purchasing customer and operational data from troubled or defunct startups, according to people familiar with the matter. The proposed approach would give the company a lower-cost source of information to improve its artificial intelligence models.
Icarus Robotics completed a four-flight parabolic campaign testing its free-flying robot, advancing preparations for a planned first mission to the International Space Station in 2027. The tests mark a key step in validating the system for microgravity operations ahead of the orbital demonstration.
Growing allied interest in Collaborative Combat Aircraft is pushing the U.S. Air Force in Europe to address interoperability across a diverse mix of future systems. The effort could shape how European partners participate in, operate alongside and connect with the USAF’s next-generation uncrewed combat aircraft.
GE Aerospace is developing a combined booster-and-cruiser all-up-round test bed for the Defense Innovation Unit, while AEVEX won up to $92.2 million to modernize SkyRange hypersonic telemetry and communications. Separately, BAE Systems launched Shadow EW, a family of compact electronic-warfare systems for crewed and uncrewed small airborne platforms.
The U.S. Air Force has designated General Atomics’ CCA as the FQ-42 Vengeance and Anduril’s aircraft as the FQ-44 Fury. The service plans to field at least 500 semi-autonomous combat aircraft by 2032, with an FQ-44 production mock-up displayed at AFA Air, Space & Cyber.
Qantas has opened a Product Innovation Centre in Adelaide’s central business district, consolidating product managers, digital-experience designers, software engineers, and data and AI specialists. The center will develop digital travel experiences and advance the airline group’s use of artificial intelligence.
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