Author: FlyMarshall Newsroom
Log-in here if you’re already a subscriber The Federal Aviation Administration has opened the door to commercial passenger and cargo operations by advanced air mobility aircraft under the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), potentially in advance of type certification. The FAA told The Air Current in August last year that “commercial operations will not take place in non-certificated eVTOL aircraft under the program,” a three-year effort that aims to accelerate the integration of electric vertical take-off and landing and other AAM aircraft into the national airspace system. Now, the agency says that “commercial operations were always a possibility” under the…
Every Gulf hub airport is a three-dimensional foreign policy document, and the design choices each one makes — what to curate, what to scale, what to borrow, what to commission — reveal more about each country’s theory of national relevance than any white paper or tourism strategy could. I arrived at this watching the concourse last week at Hamad International past midnight, five hours into a Doha layover on the way from New York to Riyadh, jet-lagged and walking the terminal for something to do. My half-formed thought bubbles became clearer in a way that a daytime transit through any…
Meanwhile, in French Guiana, Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket has launched two dedicated missions for Amazon Leo, each with 32 satellites. Amazon has shipped the next batch of satellites to French Guiana for the next Ariane 6 launch, which will debut an upgrade for higher payload capacity. Amazon originally bought launches on every available large Western rocket except SpaceX’s Falcon 9. The only rocket in Amazon’s stable of launchers with any flight history was ULA’s Atlas V, with a finite number of remaining launches due to its impending retirement. Delays with Vulcan, Ariane 6, and New Glenn were initially of little…
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars away from Vandenberg Space Force Base during the Starlink 17-47 mission on June 3, 2026. Image: SpaceX Update June 3, 11:50 a.m. EDT (1550 UTC): SpaceX confirmed deployment of the 24 Starlink satellites. SpaceX is set to launch a batch of its Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base Wednesday morning. The Starlink 17-47 mission added another 24 broadband internet to its low Earth orbit constellation. There are currently more than 10,000 satellites in orbit. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East is scheduled for 8:40:39…
The final booster motor segments for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help propel Artemis III astronauts on their journey to space shipped from Northrop Grumman’s Railyard Shipping Facility in Corinne, Utah on June 2. The eight booster motor segments are on their way to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida where they will form the SLS rocket’s twin, five-segment solid rocket boosters, which produce more than 75% of the total thrust at liftoff. Follow the Artemis blog for updates on Artemis III and future missions. Image credit: NASA/Brandon Hancock source
The TWZ Newsletter Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy. The U.S. military has confirmed the loss of an “MQ-1” drone to Iranian fire this weekend. This has led many to question whether American forces are flying the venerable Predator again, some eight years after the type’s official retirement. It is also very possible, if not likely, that the uncrewed aircraft in question was an MQ-1C Gray Eagle, a related but different design still in active U.S. Army service. Regardless, rebooting U.S. Predator operations might still be an attractive course of action,…
BERZGALE, Latvia — A French military Rafale fighter jet shot down a drone that entered NATO member Latvia’s airspace from Russia on Monday, the latest in a series of such security incidents along Europe’s eastern border regions.The Latvian army, without saying who launched the drone, said it entered from Russia “as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare.”Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, in a post on X, hailed “swift decision-making and professional action” over the incident.A French army spokesperson confirmed French warplanes had shot down an unidentified drone, and a NATO official said: “It shows once again NATO’s determination and ability…
The TWZ Newsletter Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy. The pressure is mounting on the shaky ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran with an increasing pace of tit-for-tat strikes between the two foes and Iran’s suspension of peace talks after blaming Israel’s deepening advance into Lebanon. Exacerbating tensions, Tehran claimed it will “completely block” the Strait of Hormuz while threatening to close the Bab al-Mandeb Strait as well. Located at the mouth of the Red Sea, it is another critical regional chokepoint. The Strait of Hormuz has been largely closed to most…
PARIS — The French Army has so many applicants that it has had to slow recruitment, while at the same time lacking hardware in areas ranging from spare parts to deep-fires weaponry and counter-drone defense, said deputy chief of staff Gen. Patrick Justel.France faces a different challenge from Germany and Poland, which have ample funding for equipment but struggle to attract enough personnel to meet force targets, according to Justel. The French Army has “more than enough” recruitment candidates, and last year declined to recruit the equivalent of a regiment due to budgetary constraints, the deputy chief said in a…
U.S. forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites on Saturday after shooting down drones launched by Iran toward the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. military said, in the latest escalation complicating efforts to end the war between the two countries.The U.S. military believes the four Iranian drones were targeting regional maritime traffic, a U.S. official told Reuters. U.S. Central Command said on X that the U.S. then struck Iran’s surveillance sites in Goruk and Qeshm Island, which are both on the Strait of Hormuz.Iran’s foreign ministry said the U.S. action broke an April 8 ceasefire, adding that repeated violations showed Washington…