How military aircraft and business jets are looking to each other for inspiration
WASHINGTON - At first glance, private jets and military aircraft couldn’t seem further apart. But in the gray area between coddling luxury and mission-based efficiency, there’s a rich history of innovation exchange that has helped both categories stay on the bleeding edge of aviation, Basem Wasef writes for the Robb Report. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
24 April 2024 - Wasef notes in his piece for the Robb Report that the military adopted and modified civilian aviation technology in the first years of human flight. In 1909, the U.S. Army Signal Corps purchased a converted aircraft from the Wright brothers.
Technology has been a two-way trade ever since. Wasef writes that Paris' Dassault Aviation utilizes similar head-up displays and flight controls in its civilian Falcon 6X business jet and its Rafale fighter jet. Business jets are also finding use in the U.S. military as platforms for surveillance and communications, like the U.S. Air Force tapping Learjet in Wichita, Kan. to host voice and data communications technology in the company's Bombardier Global 6000 aircraft in 2021.
Electric vertical takeoff and landing growth is helping further bridge the civilian-military gap even more as simplified flight controls in eVTOLs can be used for both government and commercial purposes.
Related: Sierra Nevada selects ThinKom's SATCOM tech for its RAPCON-X aircraft
Related: China's EHang earns world's first eVTOL type certificate
Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
