Episodes
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Established in 2018 by four ex-Airbus engineers who led the development of an all-electric plane but believed that batteries alone would not be enough to decarbonizeaviation, Ascendance is one of France's fastest growing startups. Ascendance is currently developing both a hybrid electric propulsion system, STERNA, and a winged hybrid electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft calledATEA.
Jean-Christophe Lambert, Ascendance Co-founder and CEO, joins the podcast to discuss why the use of a hybrid electric propulsion system could extend the range of futureelectric aircraft and how it provides an easier near-term path to certifying and enabling passenger-carrying eVTOL flight operations.
Check out www.eVTOLtechusa.com for details on SAE Media Group’s first eVTOL Technology USA conference happening October 28-29 in Arlington, Virginia.
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Helios Horizon, an initiative to develop a stratospheric electric airplane, recently concluded its latest flight test campaign having surpassed the altitude record for multi-seat electric aircraft.
Over a series of flights in April and May near Bishop, Calif., Helios Horizon progressed from 17,500 to 24,000 feet, all while using less than 60% of the aircraft’s total battery capacity.
On this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology Podcast, Miguel Iturmendi, Helios Horizon Founder and Chief Test Pilot, explains the project's goals and how their modified Pipistrel has been setting world records in altitudes achieved by an electric aircraft over the last year.
The Helios Horizon team includes engineers and test pilots from some of the world’s most well-known sustainable aviation initiatives, including Perlan Project, Solar Impulse and Solar Stratos. Iturmendi has been a test pilot for all three projects, and he has soared to more than 65,000 feet in the zero-emission, engineless Perlan 2.
For its stratospheric flights, Iturmendi designed and built his own partial pressure suit, which has been tested to 45,000 feet in the hypobaric chamber at the University of North Dakota’s Aerospace Physiology Department.
SAE Media Group has launched a new electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) conference, "eVTOL Technology USA," occurring October 28-29, in Arlington, VA. Go to eVTOLtechusa.com for more information.
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Episodes manquant?
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Archer Aviation, Lilium and Joby are three of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturers that have been making major progress in this growing new are of aviation over the last year.
In this episode, we highlight some of the latest flight testing advancement, international expansion and regulatory progress being made by these three eVTOL companies right now and why they're the top three to watch in this space over the next year.
SAE Media Group has launched a new eVTOL conference, "eVTOL Technology USA," happening October 28-29, 2024 in Arlington, VA. Go to www.eVTOLTechUSA.com for more details about the event and register to attend.
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As several major electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) development programs — Archer, Joby and Lilium to name a few — are approaching the final stages of certification and eventual entry into service, the performance of the batteries that power those aircraft remain the key enabling this burgeoning new segment of aviation to takeoff in the near future.
Amprius Technologies continues to be one of the leading suppliers to the eVTOL market with batteries that have already demonstrated their ability to enable flight in drones, eVTOLs and high-altitude pseudo-satellite (HAPS), while also achieving several battery energy density breakthrough achievements over the last year.
In April, AIBOT, a California-based developer of artificial intelligence-powered eVTOLs and drones, selected the Amprius Silicone Anode battery to power the drone and six-passenger eVTOL aircraft that it is currently developing.
Ronnie Tao, Vice President of Business Development for Amprius Technologies, joins the Aerospace & Defense Technology Podcast to discuss the AIBOT batteryselection and what to expect in the future development of eVTOL battery technology. He also explains how far most eVTOLs can fly on Amprius and other comparable aircraft batteries today.
Check out www.eVTOLtechusa.com for details on SAE Media Group’s first eVTOL Technology USA conference happening October 28-29 in Arlington, Virginia.
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The U.S. Army has shown increased interest in the use of different technologies for hybrid and electric-powered non-tactical and tactical vehicles in recent years. The mostprominent example being their 2022 sustainability strategy that outlined ambitious goals for developing an all-electric, light-duty, non-tactical vehicle fleet by 2027 and an all-electric, non-tactical vehicle fleet by 2035.
Rick Kewley is Vice President, Product Development and Advanced Engineering for GM Defense LLC. Kewley leads all aspects of engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, andprogram execution to meet global defense and government requirements. He joins the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast to discuss the company's latest research and development of new concepts, applications, and prototypesfor hybrid and electric-powered military ground vehicles today and in the future.
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In December, Neya Systems was one of three companies selected to participate in the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Ground Expeditionary Autonomous Retrofit System (GEARS) project. Under the GEARS project, the three companies are developing autonomous navigation kits for the Army's Palletized Load System (PLS) vehicles.
Kurt Bruck, Division Manager, Neya Systems, is the guest on this episode of Season 2 of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast to discuss how the company has moved into the testing phase of this prototyping initiative. -
Are there opportunities for UGVs to leverage AI for autonomous navigation in environments where manned military ground vehicles operate today? In a recentwhite paper, "Leveraging AI to Enable Decision Superiority," California-based embedded computing supplier Aitech provided an in-depth answer to that question, along with other insights on how UGVs canleverage AI.
Tim Stewart, Director of Business Development, Aitech, is the guest on this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast to discuss how UGVs can leverage AI and some of the military scenarios where an AI-powered UGV could provide "decision superiority" for warfighters.
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Bogdan Epureanu, Director of the Automotive Research Center and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, is the guest on this episode of the podcast to discuss how his team is working on high-fidelity synthetic environments, virtual vehicle prototypes and virtual reality tools for human-autonomy teaming — all in the pursuit of enabling future off-road autonomous vehicles for the U.S. Army.
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The wide availability and proliferation of advanced inexpensive small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) has enabled a wide variety of beneficial new commercial and civilian use cases such as medical delivery to remote areas, border surveillance and even commercial aircraft maintenance among others. However, as shown in several high profile incidents over the last year where airport operations were completely shut down or the temporary suspension of a high profile NFL playoff game in January, illegally operated drones are a new reality that have to be addressed in civilian airspace.
Jeffrey Starr, Chief Marketing Officer, D-Fend Solutions, is the guest on this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast. Check out D-Fend’s drone incident tracker to see a real-time collection of illegal, nefarious and careless operation of drones at airports, prisons, borders and even neighborhoods around the world. During the podcast, he explains how D-Fend's RF Cyber Takeover technology works, where its being operated today and how the threat of illegally operated drones is growing at airports, sports stadiums, prisons and elsewhere.
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What is metamaterials electronically scanned array (MESA) technology and how is it providing a new approach to surveillance within counter unmanned aerial system (UAS) radar applications? Tom Driscoll, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Echodyne, is the guest on this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast to answer these questions and more.
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This is the second part of our interview with Michael O'Hara, CUAS Mission Solutions and Strategy Manager for Northrop Grumman.
In the second part of the interview, O’Hara provides more perspective on how the use of directed energy, high-powered lasers and microwaves can be improved to become more effective in countering the proliferation of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in warfare.
O’Hara also explains why counter UAS is a subset of broader air defense countermeasures, and gives some insight on the future of counter UAS technology.
Check out the latest digital/print editions of Aerospace & Defense Technology as well as online aerospace and defense coverage on our websites and social media channels below:
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On this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast, the guest is Michael O'Hara, CUAS Mission Solutions and Strategy Manager for Northrop Grumman.
O'Hara provides unique insight into how the use of small inexpensive drones on the battlefield in Ukraine and other modern conflicts is changing the way the U.S. military deploys and operates counter unmanned aerial system (UAS) technology. Check out the Council on Foreign Relations article "How the Drone War in Ukraine Is Transforming Conflict," to read the article that is referenced in the intro.
In the first half of the interview, O'Hara discusses how Northrop Grumman first entered the military C-UAS space, how Ukraine is changing the way C-UAS technologies are deployed and operated and the effectiveness of directed energy, high powered lasers and other new kinetic and non-kinetic countermeasures in warfare.
Look out for the second half of the interview in the next episode!
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Welcome to the first season of the new Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast.
The guest on this episode is Shaan Shaikh, a fellow with the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
In November, Shaikh co-authored a 64-page report, "CounteringSmall Uncrewed Aerial Systems," which outlines the military threats posed by small uncrewed aerial systems (sUAS). The report assesses the challenging nature of the C-sUAS mission for the Department of Defense with a threat that is "cheap and plentiful" against defenses that are "still emerging and bring significantly higher costs."
Shaikh discusses the cost of countering small UAS at air, land and sea, as well as how the concept of operations for C-sUAS is still evolving.
