Business information provider Visiongain has unveiled its list of top 20 unmanned aerial vehicles and systems manufacturers in the world. The report predicts the specialties companies will choose in the field and how new players will try to stake a claim on a market that could undergo key structural changes amid an emergent commercial UAVs segment, Visiongain said Monday. “Although increasingly competitive, the […] More

Research and Markets projects the global directed-energy weapons market to achieve a 23.16 percent compound annual growth rate through 2018 as defense budgets and research and development activity increase in certain countries. The market research firm says that research-and-development work will respond to growing demand for new military weapons designed to cause minimal collateral damage. BAE Systems, Boeing, Raytheon and Textron will be […] More

The Airbus Group‘s defense and space division and Textron have teamed to bid for a future tender offer by the French government for unmanned aerial vehicle technology, C4ISR & Networks reported Thursday. Pierre Tran writes the tender is expected in the second half of 2014 for awarding in 2015, with the Airbus Textron team facing competition from Safran‘s Sagem […] More

CPI Aerostructures Inc., today announced that Terry Stinson will be brought onto CPI’s Board of Directors to serve a three-year term. With over 45 years of leadership in the aerospace and defense industry under his belt, Stinson has played a number of executive roles with companies including AAR Corp., Textron Aerospace, Triumph Group Inc., and his […] More

Lockheed Martin and NASA have completed installation of a heat shield to the Orion‘s crew module in preparation for Exploration Flight Test-1, where researchers will determine possible design improvements based on test performance data. NASA said Thursday the heat shield, manufactured by Lockheed and made of a material called Avcoat, is designed to protect the spacecraft and its […] More

China-based Chongqing General Aviation has purchased four Bell Helicopter-built aircraft to for parapublic missions such as search and rescue, firefighting and other disaster management efforts. Chris Jaran, managing director for Bell Helicopter in China, said Friday the two Bell 412EPI and two Bell 407GX aircraft are intended to support the Chongqing fire protection bureau. “We needed aircraft with capabilities above […] More

Textron subsidiary Bell Helicopter has won a contract to supply the New York Police Department four twin-engine aircraft for use in law enforcement activities over the city. Bell expects to complete the delivery of its 429 helicopters to the NYPD by next year, Textron said Friday. The NYPD has used Bell helicopters since 1948 to […] More