EVERETT, Wash., 6 Sept. 2010. Four of the five Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 flight test airplanes are conducting remote test operations. ZA005 continues testing from its base of operations in Seattle. ZA001, the first 787 Dreamliner, is taking a break from operations out of Edwards Air Force Base in California for a week's worth of testing in Roswell, N.M. This is ZA001's second visit to Roswell. Last month the airplane conducted wet-runway testing there. Testing in the days ahead will include rejected-takeoff conditions. ZA001 has been on remote deployment to Edwards Air Force Base for several weeks, with a focus on takeoff- and landing-performance conditions.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., 4 Sept. 2010. Jeppesen and the Russian Ministry of Transportation have agreed to a new contract that supplies Jeppesen with access to Russian domestic airport data. As Jeppesen previously had been granted access to Russian domestic airway system data, the agreement increases Jeppesen navigation, operations, and optimization solutions available for Russian operators.

COCKEYSVILLE, Md. 3 Sept. 2010. AAI Corp. selected Saft lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries from to supply back-up power for its Universal Ground Control Station (UGCS), which controls unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The 28 volt batteries are capable of integrated charging, which strengthens and simplifies the powering system.

PETERBOROUGH, England, 2 Sept. 2010. Northrop Grumman Corp.'s (NYSE:NOC) Europe-based air traffic management systems subsidiary, Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems, won contracts from NATS Services to provide surface movement radar and air traffic monitor systems for Heathrow airport's virtual contingency facility (VCF) and instrument landing systems (ILS) for regional airports around England.

WESTFORD, Mass., 1 Sept. 2010. The accommodation of modern software tools and technologies receives the most attention in press accounts of the upgrade to the RTCA certification standard DO-178B -- DO-178C, however revisions to the body of the standard are also important. These revisions should not make the standard harder or easier to follow, says George Romanski, chief executive officer of Verocel, a software verification company in Westford, Mass. But it should make the playing field "more level," stopping the exploitation of certain ambiguities.

MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., 1 Sept. 2010. The U.S. Special Operations Command (USOCOM) at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., ordered digital Puma All Environment (AE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), spares and training services from AeroVironment, Inc. in Monrovia, Calif. Puma, a hand-thrown UAV, performs multiple surveillance and reconnaissance missions over water or land and can be used by soldiers to protect troops and vehicles in combat areas.

WASHINGTON, 31 Aug. 2010. NASA's Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Program (CRuSR) awarded a total of approximately $475,000 to Armadillo Aerospace of Rockwall, Texas and Masten Space Systems of Mojave, Calif., to perform test flights of their experimental vehicles near the edge of space.

FLESLAND, Norway, 31 Aug. 2010. Avinor AS, Norway's air navigation service provider, selected Sensis Corp.'s multilateration and VeeLo NextGen vehicle locators for Bergen Airport, Flesland. The Sensis deployment at Bergen will provide surveillance of the runways, taxiways, and stand areas along with the location of vehicles operating on the surface.

PHILADELPHIA, 30 Aug. 2010. Avionics databus test supplier AIM established a new AIM-USA enterprise with headquarters in Philadelphia.

SAVANNAH, Ga., 30 Aug 2010. Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. announced that its ultra-long-range, ultra-large-cabin Gulfstream G650 reached Mach 0.995 as part of its 1,800-hour flight-test program. The aircraft achieved this speed during flutter testing, which evaluates the aircraft's damping responses following an input from an external test device. Flutter testing is performed at a variety of frequencies, speeds, altitudes, weights, and centers of gravity.

ARLINGTON, Va., 30 Aug. 2010. The U.S. Coast Guard awarded prime contractor EADS North America a $117 million contract for three HC-144A Ocean Sentry Maritime Patrol Aircraft, with options for as many as six more aircraft over the next four years. The HC-144A is based on the Airbus Military CN235 tactical airlifter.

PETERBOROUGH, England, 30 Aug. 2010. Northrop Grumman Corp.'s (NYSE:NOC) Europe-based air traffic management system subsidiary, Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems, won a contract from China Aviation Supplies International Tendering Co. (CASITC) to supply VHF radio communication systems for the Chengdu area air traffic control center. In total, 110 channels will be operated from the control center which is currently under construction for the Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) of China.

DENVER, 28 Aug. 2010. Rockwell Collins and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) conducted several flight tests of an unmanned F/A-18 subscale model air vehicle while dramatically increasing levels of damage on the aircraft. As part of the same DARPA effort Rockwell Collins also had a UAV fly aerobatics with position tracking. The results were discussed during a news briefing at AUVSI's Unmanned Systems North America 2010 showin Denver.

DENVER, 28 Aug. 2010. In recent flight tests on the Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (TUAS), Rockwell Collins demonstrated a new technology that is able to perform real-time data monitoring and analysis while in flight to alert unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators of impending maintenance needs. The new capability, also known as the real-time Condition-Based Monitoring (CBM) system, is designed to improve UAS reliability, while reducing costs and extending the UAV life cycle.

DENVER, 28 Aug. 2010. The Multi-Purpose Long-Endurance (MPLE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) concept from Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, Calif., was shown at the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) show in Denver. The UAV would provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) communications and limited strike missions flying as high as 40,000 feet above sea level with 250 knot dash-speed.

EVERETT, Wash., 28 Aug. 2010. Boeing (NYSE: BA) officials said that they now expect delivery of the first 787 aircraft in the middle of the first quarter 2011. The delivery date revision follows an assessment of the availability of an engine needed for the final phases of flight test this fall.

PETERBOROUGH, England, 28 Aug. 2010. Northrop Grumman Corp.'s (NYSE:NOC) Europe-based air traffic management subsidiary, Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems, won a contract from Korea's Public Procurement Service (PPS) to provide an air traffic communication system that will deliver air-ground communication for the Incheon air traffic control center.

WASHINGTON, 27 Aug. 2010. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a $24.2 million civil penalty against American Airlines Inc. for failing to correctly follow an Airworthiness Directive involving the maintenance of its McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft. This civil penalty is the largest ever proposed by the FAA.

DENVER, 27 Aug. 2010. Northrop Grumman engineers are in the process of creating for the U.S. Army a persistent surveillance unmanned airship that can stay aloft for three weeks  -- and they are producing it in 18 months. Delivery of the Long-Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) is scheduled for December of 2012, the contract was awarded this summer.

SEATTLE, 27 Aug. 2010. Boeing (NYSE: BA) Training & Flight Services has started 787 Dreamliner flight certification training following the provisional approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for Boeing's Seattle-based 787 flight training devices. As part of flight training, pilots train on a 787 flat panel training device and a 787 full-flight simulator -- both manufactured by Thales.