When you think of Aviation Technology in India, there isn't much. For India's Air Force and military, most of their aerial vehicles originate from Russia or the U.S. For the past decades, all of India's fighters and other aircraft were foreign aircraft. Their fighters came from Russia and the U.S., and their transport planes were from Airbus. This year, India finally completed the designing and engineering of their first native fighter jet. India's new Tejas jet is their first Indigenous fighter jet to ever come out of an Indian factory. This new jet will make India's dependency on other countries lessen and their Air Force stronger.
Tejas Jet Banking
The Tejas jet is not new, but it is the first jet to be produced in India. The first Tejas jet flew in 2001, but the first fighter jet made in India flew this year. This jet has been acclaimed for being ultra lightweight and very effective as a fighter jet. Although this jet isn't as advanced as an F-22 Raptor, it still gives India bragging rights for the production of an effective, lightweight jet.
The Tejas jet is finally ready for production in India. This jet will replace India's aging Mig-21's and F-16's. This time, the jets will be their own creations, they will know how to fix them, maintain them and upgrade them for the future without depending on another country for assistance. India's new Tejas jet will fly them into the future of aviation.
When you think of a privately owned jet, you probably think of about 3 names in the game, the Learjet, Bombardier, and Dassault. For wealthy people all around the world, the choice of brand can be a tough one and the jets are all very similar. For people wanting to chose a jet, they look at cost, effectiveness, and range. The new Dassault X8, the 3 engined private is one of the fastest, most technological aircraft of today.
Dassault X8 Test Flight
; The new Dassault X8 has the longest range of flight of all the Dassault line jets in production. The new Falcon X8 can fly more than 6,450 nautical miles on one tank of fuel. This range of fuel makes the X8 far more tempting to wealthy people who need to go International. Most private jets have to island hop across the ocean which takes much more time and money. The Dassault can make it across the ocean in one trip.
The Dassault X8 is very expensive. At about $46 Million starting price, the Falcon is for the elite. Although the X8 costs far more than most other competitors, people who have the money and need to travel international, might consider this new jet.
Since the mid 1960's, the Boeing 737 has been one of the premier airliners of the sky. With advancements in almost every aspect of the jet, this jet remains Boeing's #1 sold aircraft. Even with all of Boeing's newer, larger, more efficient airliners, the 737 dominates the Boeing market by about 5x more than any other aircraft. Of their total orders this year (1,432), the 737 has been 1,104 of those orders. People might wonder why the 737; one of Boeing's oldest jets, remains at the top. The key to the 737's success has been it's modifications over the years.
Lineup of 737s
The 737 has been one of the most produced airliners in history. The key to this success has been modifying the original popular jet to fit almost any circumstance. With about 5 classes of 737 produced in history, and countless variations to those, the 737 can handle almost anything it receives. From freight to rowdy passengers, the 737 was build to handle it all. So many of these jumbo jets were produced, that at any given time period, there are about 1,250 737's in the air.
Although the 737 is one of Boeing's oldest airliners, it has been varied and changed so much to the point where it is a completely different plane from the prototype. From more efficient engines, to composite technologies, the 737 has been a completely different aircraft. Even though it was designed for passenger use, this jumbo jet has been varied to carry freight and even military variants have been created to do aerial refueling and submarine scouting. The 737, one of Boeing's original airlines has become their most popular. If you turn your head to the sky, odds are you will see a Boeing 737 soaring high above.
For many years, the aircraft company Airbus has been making the biggest, most fuel efficient planes of the sky. Since their release of the A380, the world's largest airliner with 2 floors and room for up to 850 people, aviation nerds have wondered what is coming next. With Boeing's release of their new 787 Dreamliner, Airbus needed a plane to compete with Boeing. Their answer was the Airbus A350, a plane made of the newest space age materials very similar to the 787.
Airbus A350 test plane
The A350, originally flown in 2013, is the first Airbus aircraft with wing structures and fuselage made of mostly carbon fiber, a material lighter and stronger than aluminum. The A350 was made to compete directly with Boeing's 787 and 777, both extremely popular jets in the airlines. The new aircraft made it's first flight with passengers yesterday, the 15 January 2015. During the flight, the reaction from the crowd was noticeable, everybody loved the new plane.
The A350 has very impressive performance standards. Because of it's lightweight construction and powerful engines, it can takeoff and land in very little areas and it can climb at a massive rate of climb. So far, the A350 has over 800 orders upcoming. At a price of over 340 million dollars a piece, Airbus has a very large amount of money incoming.
For over 3 decades now, the Cirrus aircraft company has produced some of the most luxurious propeller planes in the world. Their aircraft are some of the fastest and safest aircraft in the skies. Their current best seller, the Cirrus SR-22 has a built in parachute that will catch the whole aircraft if any critical component fails. The Cirrus reputation has been a good one in the last few years and they have decided to start competing with companies like Learjet and Cessna to create a new luxury private jet. Their new jet, the Cirrus Vision will be one of the lightest and most efficient private jets in the world.
The new Cirrus jet is known as a "Very Light Jet". This style of jet is produced to combat high fuel prices and large fuel guzzling engines. It's simple, if the plane is lighter, it will burn less fuel. So the Cirrus Jet uses it's light weigh design, along with an efficient small engine to create an extremely efficient and fast private jet.
The Cirrus jet first flew in 2008; since then, 3 prototypes have been created and almost 2,000 hours of flight time have been logged in them. The Jet is expected to start production very soon. The starting cost for a Vision will be $2,000,000 and there have already been 550 people who have made deposits to guarantee their aircraft.
Since the origins of the "Dogfight" in World War I, military's have been questioning a way to get the same dog fight without having the risk of losing a human life if the plane gets shot down. In recent years, many Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) have been developed to go into use in military's all around the world. Recently, drones like the Predator, Reaper, and Global Hawk have been in use in war. These drones can be flown longer, further, and higher than an equivalent plane with a human inside of it.
The newest aircraft in the military is going to the US Navy. This new aircraft called the X-47 is an unmanned carrier capable unmanned fighter jet. The X-47 has recently completed its first carrier testing in which it successfully took off and landed on a moving aircraft carrier. This new UAV will substitute and possibly replace the F-18 in the future. The new jet is still in the developing stages so not much information is known about it yet except that it is a carrier capable fighter jet.
The Common but Deadly USAF Predator UAV
The UAV's in the USAF are some of the most effective in the world. In the Middle East, the air force uses the Predator and similar drones everyday to monitor and target enemies safely and effectively. If a UAV gets shot down, it is not as bad as if it were an attack aircraft because no pilot loses their lives in a drone.
Since the 1960's the US has been doing almost constant missions into space. Since the moon landings in the 60's most of the flights have just been routine research flights to the International Space Station in orbit around Earth. After the cancellation of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, the only way for US astronauts to get to the space station has been to pay Russia for a seat in their spacecraft. Today the new era of NASA took off from the launch pad in Cape Canaveral. The new spacecraft called Orion takes a modern spin on the style of the old Apollo rockets in which a capsule at the top detaches and parachutes down into the ocean rather than landing like the shuttle.
Orion Spacecraft Leaves Cape Canaveral 5 December 2014
The Orion capsule built by Lockeed Martin is capable of leaving low Earth Orbit and traveling a much greater distance than what has been possible in the past with the Space Shuttle. NASA hopes to use this shuttle in the future to go to asteroids and possibly Mars. The maiden flight lasted a little less than 4 and a half hours and went flawlessly. NASA hopes to do a manned flight by 2021.
