Also: Visual Line-Of-Sight, Tracking Fire Trucks, Another Laser Fool, Helicopter Fire Attack System The United States Navy officially kicked off flight testing for its first unmanned, carrier-based tanker with a two-hour maiden mission at Boeing’s MidAmerica Airport facility on April 25. The debut of the one-of-a-kind Boeing MQ-25A Stingray involved both Boeing and Navy air vehicle pilots remotely operating the aircraft. Joby Aviation has completed a week-long series of electric air taxi demonstration flights across one of its most promising US markets: New York City. This marked the first time point-to-point eVTOL operations have been conducted through the city’s existing heliport network. The campaign linked JFK with multiple Manhattan locations, including Downtown Skyport and sites along the East and West sides of Midtown. SpaceX has spent more than $15 billion developing its Starship megarocket and is pushing for a launch schedule that would make space access resemble an airline schedule rather than a government program, drawing on the company’s confidential pre-IPO prospectus. The figure quantifies, for the first time, the cumulative cost of the development program that underpins the more speculative two-thirds of SpaceX’s targeted $1.75 trillion IPO valuation. All this — and MORE in today’s episode of Airborne-NextGen!!!
