FlightGlobal Focus

The US Navy has spent more than two decades developing its new aircraft carrier, incorporating 23 new or significantly updated technologies into major systems across the ship.

These include the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, which replaces the steam-driven catapult of the venerable Nimitz-class carriers with an electric induction motor.

The navy says the system costs less to operate and inflicts less structural fatigue on aircraft. Together with other changes to the Ford-class, the new carriers are meant to increase sortie generation by an appreciable amount.

However, US President Donald Trump has long opposed the electromagnetic catapult and over the past 10 years has repeatedly mused about ordering the navy to return to a steam-piston system.

After years of talking about it, the Trump White House in August officially directed the US Navy to begin exploring options for replacing EMALS and other electrically driven systems with conventional steam and hydraulic alternatives on future Ford-class ships.

FlightGlobal's defence editor Greg Waldron joins Ryan Finnerty to discuss the move and how it will impact carrier operations.

Fuel cost rises stemming from the Iran war really started to hit home for airlines in the second quarter.
FlightGlobal's Airlines team, fresh from covering earnings season, takes a look at how carriers in Europe and the USA fared in the April-June period, and how they're feeling as they head into the second half of the year.

Airbus is immersed in a crucial research project to examine in depth the efficiency benefits of broad and slender wings as it prepares to develop a successor to its bestselling A320neo.
While the quest for lower fuel-burn tends to centre on the engines, the UK-led Wing of Tomorrow programme is looking at the equally significant contribution from new wing structures and technologies.
But design is only part of the equation – it also needs to examine whether these future wing concepts can be built at the rates demanded by the single-aisle market.
As the programme reaches a pivotal point, with the ground-based research evolving towards flight-testing, FlightGlobal Focus explores its progress and objectives, as well as the obstacles Airbus needs to confront in this critical engineering effort.

The former head of the US Army says a new generation of hybrid-electric rotorcraft can provide significant tactical advantages over traditional helicopters, including faster flight speeds and increased range.
General James McConville was the chief of staff of the US Army from 2019 to 2023. He’s also a seasoned rotary-wing aviator, having flown the Apache, Black Hawk, Kiowa and Cobra, among others.
After retiring from the uniformed service, McConville joined the board of electric aircraft start-up Beta Technologies and helped shape development of the company’s MV250 – an unmanned, hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing design that represents Beta’s first dedicated military aircraft. 
McConville argues that hybrid-electric aircraft can offer significant tactical benefits compared to traditional helicopters, including increased range and flight speeds. 
In an interview with FlightGlobal at the 2026 Farnborough air show, McConville laid out why he chose to join Beta and how his military experience shaped the company’s design choices on the MV250.

IATA has appointed its first female director general and its first leader in more than 40 years to come from outside the airline industry.
This week, Graham Dunn and Kerry Reals from FlightGlobal's Airlines team discuss the sustainability challenge facing Saadia Zahidi, and how her background at the World Economic Forum could prove to be a real advantage.