Stratolaunch’s Open Rotor Revival M&A in the Hypersonic Reset at GE-Safran Age of COVID-19 $14.95 OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 8, 2020 ISS TURNS 20 RICH MEDIA EXCLUSIVE Digital Edition Copyright Notice The content contained in this digital edition (“Digital Material”), as well as its selection and arrangement, is owned by Informa. and its affiliated companies, licensors, and suppliers, and is protected by their respective copyright, trademark and other proprietary rights. Upon payment of the subscription price, if applicable, you are hereby authorized to view, download, copy, and print Digital Material solely for your own personal, non-commercial use, provided that by doing any of the foregoing, you acknowledge that (i) you do not and will not acquire any ownership rights of any kind in the Digital Material or any portion thereof, (ii) you must preserve all copyright and other proprietary notices included in any downloaded Digital Material, and (iii) you must comply in all respects with the use restrictions set forth below and in the Informa Privacy Policy and the Informa Terms of Use (the “Use Restrictions”), each of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Any use not in accordance with, and any failure to comply fully with, the Use Restrictions is expressly prohibited by law, and may result in severe civil and criminal penalties. Violators will be prosecuted to the maximum possible extent. You may not modify, publish, license, transmit (including by way of email, facsimile or other electronic means), transfer, sell, reproduce (including by copying or posting on any network computer), create derivative works from, display, store, or in any way exploit, broadcast, disseminate or distribute, in any format or media of any kind, any of the Digital Material, in whole or in part, without the express prior written consent of Informa. To request content for commercial use or Informa’s approval of any other restricted activity described above, please contact the Reprints Department at (877) 652-5295. Without in any way limiting the foregoing, you may not use spiders, robots, data mining techniques or other automated techniques to catalog, download or otherwise reproduce, store or distribute any Digital Material. NEITHER Informa NOR ANY THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDER OR THEIR AGENTS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY ACT, DIRECT OR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR ACCESS TO ANY DIGITAL MATERIAL, AND/OR ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN. ADVERTORIAL IAI Aviation Group – BEDEK MRO Services Increasing Demand for Boeing 737 Conversions As a world leader in Passenger to Freight (P-2-F) air- craft conversions, IAI BEDEK has successfully con- verted more than 260 aircraft , that have accumulated over 2,500,000 operational fl ight hours, over the past 40 years. Among these aircraft are diff erent types of Boeing 737, 757, 767, 747, and the MD-11, with the conversion of the B777 currently under development at IAI. Th e Boeing 737 makes up a signifi cant part of IAI’s P-2-F conversions. As a small plane, the B737 provides the fl exibility and economy of fl ying cargo over short and medium distances. sary inspections and heavy maintenance, as part of the In the past, IAI provided conversions for B737-300/400, but conversion to the cargo confi guration,” Eran Cohen, has now focused on the New Generation (NG) and current- Director of B737 Conversions Program at IAI’s Aviation ly provides P-2-F conversions for the 737 -700 and -800. Group, said. “Th e conversion process takes between Since receiving the Supplemental Type Certifi cate 90 – 100 days (depending on the specifi c model) and (STC) to convert the B737-700 in 2017, IAI is the only includes all the necessary modifi cations. Following provider of full cargo conversion for aircraft of this type, the process, the aircraft is able to fulfi l its new role of a whereas others off er Combi confi gurations, carrying a cargo aircraft , for the rest of its operational life. IAI also mix of passenger and cargo. As with other conversions, off ers full MRO services support for these aircraft . IAI developed the BEDEK Special Freighter (BDSF) Until 2020, the aft ermarket price of B737-800 remained conversion and has Supplemental Type Certifi cates too high for economic conversions due to high demand (STCs) from the FAA and EASA for the conversion of and the grounding of the B737-MAX. “Th e situation the B737-300/400/700 and /800. Th ese BDSFs deliver has changed with the outbreak of the COVID-19 excellent operational value with advanced avionics, pandemic,” Cohen said. “Today, with the drastically improved performance, reduced fuel-burn, and reduced reduced passenger aircraft operations and grounding maintenance costs. of fl eets, airlines are phasing out relatively new aircraft , Th ese conversions include a comprehensive modifi ca- such as the Boeing 737-800.” tion of the aircraft , a new main deck cargo door, instal- Cargo operators are eager to introduce these aircraft lation of Smoke and Fire Detection and Suppression into their fl eets, while airlines are using them to carry Systems on the main deck, and fl oor drain system. In packages in their cabins. With the full BDSF conversion, parallel to the conversion of B737-700, IAI developed a these aircraft can carry twice, and even three times the separate conversion for the longer B737-800, which has cargo, more effi ciently, with faster loading and unload- a much larger payload. In early 2020, IAI received the ing. “Today, the B737-800 aircraft are available for cargo STC for its B737-800 conversion. conversions at prices much lower than only four months “IAI operates conversion lines for the B737 in Israel, ago. Th is trend has opened up the market, and we expect Mexico and China, where aircraft undergo all the neces- further growth in demand.” Cohen concluded. Read Aviation Week Anytime, Anywhere AVIATIONWEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY Now 3 Ways to Read Online 2020 Winner October 26-November 8, 2020 . Volume 182 . Number 21 The Safran-led SAGE 2 14 open-rotor tests were run in Istres, France, in 2017. By Article: AviationWeek.com/awst By Issue: AviationWeek.com/awst_current Download and Read Offline: AviationWeek.com/download DEPARTMENTS 6 | Feedback 13 | Airline Intel 7 | Who’s Where 64 | Marketplace 8- 9 | First Take 65 | Contact Us 10 | Up Front 65 | Aerospace 11 | Going Concerns Calendar 12 | Inside Business Aviation FEATURES DEFENSE SPACE 24 | DARPA-funded study proposes 46 | Chinese multishot Moon landing 14 | Shaping Up hypersonic production facility plan relies on a new rocket Safran and GE Avio propose an open-rotor flight demonstration 30 | U.S. Army flexes new land-based 55 | NASA asteroid sampler nails for Europe’s Clean Aviation anti-ship capabilities touch-and-go maneuver 42 | Ready to Roc 32 | Team Tempest seeks path to U.S. ELECTION PREVIEW Stratolaunch upgrades carrier approval for technology 58 | How presidential candidates may aircraft and prepares to offer 34 Airbus Spain pursues new manage stagnant defense budget hypersonic test capability in 2022 | advanced jet trainer concept 60 | Aerospace-seasoned candidates 48 | ISS Turns 20 35 Japan moves ahead with electro- challenge two powerful senators The 15-nation program marks | magnetic warfare aircraft 20 years of continuous human ASK THE EDITORS presence in low Earth orbit CARGO 61 | How much time will new Boeing 737 MAX pilot training take? 56 | 2020 Laureates Awards 36 | Cargo conversion specialists see strong demand despite COVID-19 Aviation Week presented the Grand MARKETPLACE Laureates and Lifetime Achievement AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT 62 | Startups embrace additive manu- awards and honored U.S. military 38 | Europe presses ahead with facturing for speed to market cadets in a virtual event modernizing air traffic management VIEWPOINT 40 | The FAA envisions integrated 66 | Certification standards for human COMMERCIAL AVIATION but distinct airspace layers pilots also could be applied to AI 17 | Boeing’s rare forecast reductions underscore the pandemic’s reach ON THE COVER 19 | Airlines face winter capacity cuts as demand remains depressed The world is close to celebrating the 20th anniversary of continuous human presence in space on the International Space Station, which has hosted 64 crews, including NASA astronauts Bob Behnken PROPULSION and Chris Cassidy, members of Expedition 63, who are pictured on a spacewalk in July to install 20 | VoltAero Cassio offers “a la carte” hardware and upgrade the station. Our coverage, led by Space Editor Irene Klotz, begins on page 48. hybrid-electric propulsion NASA photo by Doug Hurley. BUSINESS Aviation Week publishes a digital edition every week. Read it at AviationWeek.com/AWST 22 | Private equity pushes into aerospace and defense DIGITAL EXTRAS Access exclusive online features from articles accompanied by this icon. AviationWeek.com/AWST AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 8, 2020 3 Editor-In-Chief Joseph C. Anselmo [email protected] Executive Editors Jen DiMascio (Defense and Space) [email protected] Jens Flottau (Commercial Aviation) [email protected] Graham Warwick (Technology) [email protected] Editors Lindsay Bjerregaard, Sean Broderick, Michael Bruno, Bill Carey, Thierry Dubois, William Garvey, Ben Goldstein, Lee Hudson, Irene Klotz, Helen Massy-Beresford, Jefferson Morris, Guy Norris, Tony Osborne, Bradley Perrett, James Pozzi, Adrian Schofield, Lee Ann Shay, Steve Trimble Chief Aircraft Evaluation Editor Fred George Director, Editorial and Online Production Michael O. Lavitt Associate Managing Editor Andrea Hollowell Art Director Lisa Caputo Artists Thomas De Pierro, Rosa Pineda, Colin Throm Copy Editors Jack Freifelder, Arturo Mora, Natalia Pelayo, Andy Savoie Production Editors Audra Avizienis, Theresa Petruso Contributing Photographer Joseph Pries Director, Digital Content Strategy Rupa Haria Content Marketing Manager Rija Tariq Data & Analytics Director, Forecasts and Aerospace Insights Brian Kough Senior Manager, Data Operations/Production Terra Deskins Manager, Military Data Operations Michael Tint Editorial Offices 2121 K Street, NW, Suite 210, Washington, D.C.