Author: Cliff Withers

BAE Systems has been awarded a £1.4bn contract by the UK’s Ministry of Defence to deliver the next Astute class submarine to the Royal Navy. Agamemnon will be the sixth of seven nuclear-powered attack submarines designed and manufactured at BAE’s site in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Will Blamey, managing director of BAE Systems Submarines, said: “Securing the…

In the new white paper, “UV Broad-Spectrum & LED-Curable, 100% Solids, Very Low Viscosity Conformal Coating”, Dr. Aysegul Kascatan Nebioglu discusses a revolutionary new technology that has been developed as an alternative to thin, solvent-based conformal coatings. Typically, to achieve a very thin conformal coating, formulations are reduced using solvents. Because of the environmental concerns…

The British Ministry of Defence is close to a decision on whether the country buys a new military communications satellite from incumbent supplier Airbus Defence and Space or opens the requirement up to competition, according to executives familiar with the program. MoD officials at Joint Forces Command responsible for Britain’s military satellite communications capability have…

The British Ministry of Defence’s much anticipated Skynet 6 satellite program has found itself in need of additional skills and manpower to map out requirements and manage an overall program that could be worth up to £6 billion, or  $7.5 billion. One downside of a 20-year private finance initiative deal with Airbus for the Skynet 5 is…

Not having humans at the wheel provides degrees of freedom that traditional motorsport simply cannot allow. It’s a concept taken to the extreme by Roborace, a new motorsport series where humans not only aren’t on board, but aren’t even in direct control. Set to make its debut in the coming months on the Formula E…

Ahead of Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, McLaren Racing has revealed how it is expanding the use of 3D printing as the team bids for glory on the track. The Surrey-based team, which counts 12 drivers’ championships and eight constructors’ championships among its list of F1 honours, is using 3D printing technologies from Stratasys to accelerate…

The X-24A experimental aircraft, propelled by 24 electric thrusters, completes flight tests of scaled-down model. The Aurora Lightning Strike X-24A, one of the most advanced experimental aircraft created by the US for decades, has successfully concluded test flights of a scaled-down model. Designed to transition from vertical takeoff and landing to horizontal flight using electrically-powered…

Boeing, the U.S. Navy, the Royal Australian Air Force and the United Kingdom Royal Air Force will continue modernizing global maritime patrol capabilities through a $2.2 billion contract awarded March 30 for at least 17 P-8A Poseidon aircraft. The agreement also includes options for 32 additional aircraft, as well as money for long-lead parts for…

US aerospace giant Boeing has unveiled concepts for systems that could be used as the key components of a deep space manned exploration mission. At the heart of the plans is a system known as the Deep Space Gateway, a crewed spaceport that would be used as a staging post to launch manned missions to…

Researchers from the University of British Columbia have developed a bendable, stretchable, transparent sensor that could have a wide range of applications in wearable electronics. Described in the journal Science Advances, the flexible device is able to recognise proximity, touch and pressure, combining multiple sensing functions from some of the leading smartphones. It is made…