Ben Sampson

1 week ago | aerospacetestinginternational.com | Ben Sampson

President Donald Trump announced a plan to build a missile defense system, called the Golden Dome, on May 20, 2025. The system is intended to protect the United States from ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles, and missiles launched from space. Trump is calling for the current budget to allocate US$25 billion to launch the initiative, which the government projected will cost $175 billion.

1 week ago | aerospacetestinginternational.com | Ben Sampson

The US Department of Defense is looking at how it might use a huge airlifter almost six times larger than the Antonov An-225 that is being developed to transport wind turbine blades. Radia’s WindRunnner is 356ft (109m) in length with a wingspan of 261ft (80m and a payload capacity of 272,000ft³, twelve times more than a 747 freighter. It is also designed to land on short and unpaved runways down to 6,000ft.

2 weeks ago | aerospacetestinginternational.com | Ben Sampson

AIR has completed night time flight demonstrations of its uncrewed cargo eVTOL aircraft, marking a milestone in establishing standard operating procedures for night operations. The demonstrations validated the aircraft’s ability to integrate seamlessly with ground crews for loading and unloading operations. The tests took place at a remote, non-airport site with minimal infrastructure to demonstrate the platform’s ability to operate in challenging environments with limited resources.

2 weeks ago | aerospacetestinginternational.com | Ben Sampson

Lithuanian space communications company Astrolight has closed a €2.8 million ($3.0 million) seed funding round to develop its laser-based communication platform connecting satellites to Earth. The funding will accelerate development of Astrolight’s end-to-end optical communication system that aims to address the growing data bottleneck between space-based assets and ground infrastructure.

2 weeks ago | aerospacetestinginternational.com | Ben Sampson

Aircraft and aerospace components have numerous critical specifications that require precise measurements to ensure performance and longevity. Shape variations and roughness deviations can significantly impact power, efficiency, and fuel consumption. In the field, aviation hardware faces extreme conditions, so quickly identifying damage to critical components is essential to improving fleet readiness and repair turnaround times.