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• Ian Molyneaux
AutoFlight says it has completed the world’s first formation flight involving five autonomous eVTOL aircraft at its Bailian Lake Flight Test Base. The demonstration brings together multiple unmanned aircraft in a single flight, though the company’s summary provides no further details on the aircraft or flight conditions.
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A European lawmaker says a cutoff of Starlink service led to deaths and has called for Europe to stop using U.S. technology. The available report does not identify when or where the cutoff occurred or provide further details about the alleged consequences.
AutoFlight says it has completed the world’s first formation flight involving five autonomous eVTOL aircraft at its Bailian Lake Flight Test Base. The demonstration brings together multiple unmanned aircraft in a single flight, though the company’s summary provides no further details on the aircraft or flight conditions.
Jeremy Kressmann speaks with Massimo Morin, AWS’s global head of travel, and Basudeb Chatterjee, Pariveda Solutions’ vice president of AI strategy and commercial transformation, about airlines’ legacy technology. Their discussion puts technology modernization and AI strategy at the center of the sector’s business transformation agenda.
High activity
Goldman Sachs and Apollo Global Management are in talks with investors to sell portions of a roughly $40 billion financing deal tied to SpaceX’s chip needs. The firms are reportedly offering slices of up to $500 million ahead of formal syndication.
High activity
Joby Aviation has received $37 million in additional U.S. Air Force funding to advance and test its autonomous flight platform, with the overall contract ceiling raised to $50 million. The Air Force plans further Pacific exercises. Separately, Joby continues pursuing pre-certification air-taxi flights amid FAA scrutiny, while Eve signed an agreement with FlyBIS for up to 12 eVTOLs.
Shield Space is developing swarms of up to 100 autonomous cubesats intended to defend Western satellites in orbit. The U.K. startup is applying lessons from drone warfare in Ukraine to the effort, with the proposed spacecraft described as capable of firing lasers.
Saildrone is preparing to manufacture its Surveyor uncrewed vessels in Norway, with a first mold already being readied, CEO Tom Fidjeland said at Euronaval. Fidjeland described the production work as technically straightforward, pointing to a local manufacturing route as the company pursues greater reach in the European market.
The German defense AI company has transferred the source code for its Mission Operating System Bundeswehr to the country’s military procurement agency, giving the state ownership of software historically retained by industry. The system is intended for future combat drones and other air warfare platforms, enabling Germany to develop them independently of individual suppliers.
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