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The US Air Force tested a setup where an F-22 Raptor pilot sent high-level tactical commands to Anduril's YFQ-44A Fury drone via a tactical data link while both aircraft flew out of Edwards Air Force Base. The drone's onboard autonomy software translated those directives into flight maneuvers and simulated combat tasks, while the human pilot retained decision-making control rather than flying the drone directly.
The U.S. Air Force conducted a flight test in which an F-22 Raptor pilot gave tactical commands to an Anduril YFQ-44A Fury drone, which translated them into autonomous flight maneuvers during simulated combat, according to The Defense Watch. The test is part of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program aimed at pairing crewed fighters with autonomous drone wingmen.
From 2001 to 2015, pilots in white hooded costumes flew open-cockpit ultralights to teach captive-raised whooping crane chicks a migration route between Wisconsin and Florida, since the species had lost its eastern migratory tradition. The method worked technically, successfully guiding birds that had never flown the route before, but the program was ultimately shut down.
Ahead of a Washington summit between Trump and Xi, analysts say the trade truce reached in May is being fulfilled unevenly across its three main commitments: China's soybean purchases, its pledge to buy 200 Boeing jets, and the resumption of rare earth magnet exports after a 12-month suspension of export controls. Delivery on some commitments remains difficult to verify, according to analysts tracking the deal.
Icelandair reportedly turned down a proposal from its aircraft mechanics on Tuesday, setting the stage for a possible indefinite strike beginning September 23. The mechanics' union has set a deadline of midnight local time Tuesday (8:00 p.m. EDT) for the airline to reach a deal before the walkout begins.
The FAA announced that laser strikes on aircraft fell for a third consecutive year, with 4,470 incidents reported between January and July 2026, a 24 percent decline from the same period in 2025. California and Texas logged the most reports overall, while New Mexico and Hawaii topped the list per capita.
Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works unveiled a full-scale model of Vectis, its uncrewed combat aircraft meant to fly alongside the F-35, at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference. The company is growing the program from one to five prototype vehicles and aims to fly the first one by the end of 2027.
California startup Pyka has built electric, cockpit-free fixed-wing aircraft that spray crops and deliver cargo, with about a dozen already flying missions over cotton and soybean fields in Brazil, work previously done by human pilots. The company is testing software updates at a site near San Francisco Bay while eyeing an eventual expansion into passenger flights along US coastlines.
Saab has unveiled the A3, a tailless, supersonic, double-delta-wing uncrewed combat aircraft concept designed to fly alongside its Gripen E fighters starting in the early 2030s. The company positions the A3 as a high-end 'peer-capable' companion rather than a low-cost attritable drone, and views it as a technological bridge toward Sweden's planned crewed fighter replacement in the 2040s.
Bengaluru startup Alteon, founded by 20-year-old Samay Sanghvi, secured $2.5 million in pre-seed funding led by investor Lachy Groom, with Together Fund also participating. The company is developing small autonomous fixed-wing aircraft that mimic albatross flight patterns to extract energy from ocean wind shear, aiming to keep planes airborne for over a year without traditional fuel or battery limits. Alteon has tested its autonomous flight system over the Bay of Bengal but has not yet proven sustained flight purely from harvested wind energy.
During a routine ground taxi test to diagnose an electrical fault in English Electric Lightning XM135, pilot Taffy Holden unintentionally pushed the throttle past the afterburner gate. Unfamiliar with disengaging the afterburner, Holden found the aircraft accelerating rapidly, narrowly avoiding a fuel tanker crossing the runway before becoming airborne despite having no flight training clearance, helmet, or radio for the exercise.
Pants for Birds has released the ADSBee m1421, a new open-source aircraft tracking module that combines TI's CC1314 microcontroller with Semtech's newly launched LR2021 chip. The pairing lets the device receive both Mode S and UAT aircraft signals, including TIS-B and FIS-B uplink data, in a much smaller and lower-power package than the company's existing ADSBee 1090U receiver.