Sikorsky Aircraft plans to introduce an autonomous, uncrewed variant of the venerable Black Hawk military helicopter called the S-70UAS U-Hawk, the company announced on October 13 as it unveiled a mockup at the annual Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington. According to Sikorsky, the uncrewed aircraft system has 25% more payload capacity than the traditional UH-60L Black Hawk family of utility helicopters.

EHang has launched the VT35 autonomous eVTOL aircraft, showing video of the two-seater at an event in the Chinese city of Hefei on Monday. According to the company, the new model could offer range of up to 200 kilometers (109 nm), which would be almost six times the distance over which its in-service EH216-S aircraft operates.

Europe’s Project Newborn hydrogen propulsion initiative is on track to reach its final stage in 2026, the consortium’s leader Honeywell confirmed during a recent media briefing, indicating that the aerospace-specific powertrain it is developing is expect to be in final assembly by the end of the year. However, ahead of an anticipated first flight on a demonstrator aircraft in 2028, the partners remain uncertain about future public investment from the European Union Clean Aviation initiative.

Flight automation specialist Skyryse has successfully flown a Cirrus SR22 piston airplane equipped with its SkyOS operating system and fly-by-wire controls, the company announced on October 14 during the NBAA-BACE business aviation show in Las Vegas. The inaugural flight of the highly automated SR22 marks the first time Skyryse has demonstrated the SkyOS system on a fixed-wing platform, following years of flight tests in Robinson R44 and R66 helicopters. 

Electra.Aero has selected Evolito to provide electric propulsion units of its EL9 Ultra Short hybrid-electric aircraft. The U.S. start-up announced the partnership on October 13, saying that the equipment will be a key element in the distributed electric propulsion system for the blown-lift design.

A somewhat unusual exhibitor for a business aviation trade show, Boom Supersonic made its debut at the NBAA-BACE convention in Las Vegas this week. The Colorado-based startup, which is developing a boomless supersonic airliner, insists it has no plans to produce a supersonic business jet—at least not yet.

The likely convergence between planned eVTOL air taxi services and mainstream business aviation has taken some shape over the past 12 months or so. Several FBO groups have begun work preparing to support the new aircraft, which could supplant helicopters in some instances, by developing vertiports and installing electric recharging equipment.