Rotortrade CEO Bullish on Heli Market

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Now, let’s explore what’s making news in aviation today.https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2026-07-21/rotortrade-ceo-bullish-helicopter-market-shift1.Rotortrade CEO Bullish on Helicopter Market ShiftBy CURT EPSTEIN • Business Aviation Services EditorJuly 21, 2026Philippe Lubrano, CEO of global helicopter sales and support provider Rotortrade, said the rotorcraft market has shifted from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market as the industry moves toward the second half of the year. “I don’t see any slowdown in this industry for the next three to five years,” he predicted. “Everybody wants more choppers.”Emergency aeromedical transport remains a dominant factor in the rotorcraft ecosystem, according to Lubrano. “Definitely, the EMS sector is a growing sector,” he said. “We’re doing a number of EMS completions on preowned aircraft to satisfy our clients, and I think the EMS sector is going to see more and larger aircraft coming in.”In an assessment of the first-half helicopter market conditions, Lubrano noted that long lead times among the OEMs have added months, if not years, to delivery times on the most popular models. This, he said, is putting pressure on the young, used market inventory at a time when many in-service helicopters are nearing their replacement cycles.He explained that since production lines for military and civil helicopters are often comingled, increasing demand from the former is also affecting OEM order books. Conflicts such as the Iran war may affect investment strategies, with some potential owners opting for short-term leases instead of ownership of newer helicopters like the Airbus H160 medium twin.“We can give the opportunity to any client to try them, so short-term lease, two, three years becomes a possibility on that type, so the client can really assess the aircraft and see if they want to move on with the acquisition,” Lubrano said.Another factor going forward in the year is the start of fire season in the U.S. and Europe, with many aircraft occupied with firefighting contracts. Rotorcraft dealers and completions houses are gearing up for that.https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/futureflight/2026-07-22/japanese-leasing-group-backs-archers-halo-utility-drone2.Japanese Leasing Group Backs Archer's Halo Utility DroneBy CHARLES ALCOCK • Managing EditorJuly 22, 2026Japanese leasing group Marubeni Aerospace is helping Archer Aviation find use cases for the Halo autonomous aircraft it unveiled at the Farnborough International Airshow this week. The hybrid-electric model is part of a family of dual tiltrotor drones being developed by Archer and Anduril that also includes the Thunder military platform launched on Monday.Archer has not confirmed any range or payload details for the Halo or Thunder, but said the hybrid-electric powertrain it has developed in-house will be sufficient “to support global self-deployment.”Alternatively, the company explained, the aircraft can be packed into a standard shipping container for transport by air, road, rail, or sea, offering the multi-modal transport logistics required to reach where it needs to be.The partners expect to begin test flights of the Thunder/Halo prototype in 2027, but have not said when they will begin deliveries. The companies said they have already flown what they described as “a full-scale surrogate aircraft.”Based on the powertrain Archer developed for its four-passenger Midnight eVTOL air taxi, the series’ hybrid-electric powertrain drives the rotors directly from electric motors and features a turbogenerator. The propulsion system also includes wing-mounted optimum-speed tiltrotors that vary the revolutions per minute to maintain efficiency through different phases of flight, reducing power demand and fuel burn in cruise as well as reducing noise to avoid detection by hostile forces during low-altitude approaches."Over the past eight years we've engineered, tested, and scaled the technology this platform is built on,” said Archer founder and CEO Adam Goldstein. “The powertrain, the batteries, the motors, the manufacturing. We partnered with Anduril to take all of that knowledge and build something new: a clean-sheet aircraft in a completely different class of range, speed and payload.”Archer envisages applications such as offshore energy support, freight deliveries, and humanitarian and medical support. The aircraft could also be deployed for various maritime missions."Currently, even in cargo transport operations that do not require onboard crew, flights are conducted with human pilots, absorbing the cost, scheduling constraints and human exposure that come with it," said Marubeni president and CEO Satoru Nakagawa. "Halo's unmanned, autonomous flight capabilities can address these challenges, and combined with its excellent range, payload capacity and VTOL capability, make it a highly suitable solution that we are pleased to introduce and support for our customers as a first strategic partner."https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2026-07-21/ahead-rest-mq-28-nears-australian-service3. Ahead of the Rest: MQ-28 Nears Australian ServiceBy DAVID DONALD • Contributor - UKJuly 22, 2026In 2028, the Royal Australian Air Force aims to become the first air arm in the world to field an advanced collaborative combat aircraft (CCA). Formerly known as the Loyal Wingman, the Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat has been developed entirely in Australia but has significant global opportunities, especially as it is arguably the most mature of the CCA programs.The MQ-28 first flew in February 2021, and the test fleet has accumulated some 230 hours over 200 sorties. Eight Block 1 aircraft were built, and the second of them—retired from test duties for some time—is on static display at the Farnborough International Airshow. The last three Block 1 air vehicles will follow shortly as six Block 2 aircraft take over the test burden.Among the Block 2’s improvements, the most obvious is a wing with 25% greater area, permitting an increase in maximum takeoff weight from 10,000 to 12,000 pounds and a corresponding rise in useful payload to 4,500 pounds. The internal weapons bays are longer, accommodating up to four Small Diameter Bombs or two missiles the size of the AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM). Boeing has developed a revised modular nose that allows different sensor payloads to be fitted, and a satcom antenna enables beyond-line-of-sight control.Boeing has established a production facility in Toowoomba, Queensland, which will initially build Block 2 aircraft. A Block 3 with further improvements is expected to enter production in 2029.The company’s test fleet has not flown that much, but because development is performed within the digital domain, testing is essentially a validation of modeling and results. Some notable capabilities have nevertheless been demonstrated in the air. In June 2025, an MQ-28 conducted find-fix-target missions in which it autonomously detected, tracked, and designated aerial targets within an assigned area.In December 2025, an MQ-28 destroyed a jet-powered drone target with an AIM-120 fired at the Woomera test range in South Australia. An operator aboard an RAAF E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft controlled the CCA and authorized the engagement, while an F/A-18F Super Hornet provided targeting data across the networked force. Boeing is in talks with MBDA about launching a Meteor air-to-air missile from the MQ-28. Fit checks have been conducted, but no schedule has been set for the demonstration.Earlier this year, an MQ-28 flew three sorties from Naval Air Station Point Mugu in California in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, and in late June and early July the type took part in the Valiant Shield exercise in the Pacific. Nine sorties were flown from the island of Rota, north of Guam, among them operations with U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-15EXs. Three back-to-back sorties demonstrated a turnaround time between flights of just 19 minutes.International interest in the MQ-28 is high, and Boeing sees opportunities in many nations. In Germany, an industrial team has been formed to bid for air force requirements: Rheinmetall was named first as Boeing’s strategic partner, Rohde & Schwarz and Diehl Defence joined in June, and sensor and electronic warfare specialist Hensoldt has now completed the team. Internationally, Eaton (weapons launch and release systems) and Leonardo (Skyward infrared search-and-track sensors) have been named as partners.Boeing Australia designed the Ghost Bat as a simple aircraft with ease of operation and manufacturing in mind. Boeing Commercial Airplanes played a major role in designing the production system so that manufacturing facilities can be established easily and rapidly anywhere. For the MQ-28, the company favors small facilities in customer nations, allowing them to tailor their own air vehicles to national operational and sovereignty requirements.4. WoT? Experimental Elongated Airbus Wings To Fly Next Yearhttps://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2026-07-21/wot-experimental-elongated-airbus-wings-fly-next-yearBy CHARLOTTE BAILEY • WriterJuly 22, 2026Airbus has launched the next phase of its Wing of Tomorrow (WoT) development program, kicking off a three-year effort to assess the benefits and challenges of extended-length wingspans. With the first experimental folding wings due to commence assembly imminently, Airbus hopes to start testing the concept in flight on an Airbus A321neo testbed around the second half of next year.Wing efficiency is “one of the biggest levers we have to improve the performance of our aircraft,” Airbus technology project lead Richard MacPherson told reporters during a briefing at the Farnborough Airshow on Tuesday, adding that Wing of Tomorrow “has the potential to give the same, if not more, efficiency gains than next generation engines.” This program phase will analyze the performance benefits and aerodynamic qualities of longer wings, helping inform future narrowbody design decisions.Airbus has already started building various multi-meter-long devices intended to replace the upward-curving Sharklet wingtips that are standard on the A320 family. These will be built at Airbus’ Wing Technology Development Centre in Filton, England, before being flight-tested on its A321neo testbed in Toulouse, France.“In the air, these extension devices are going to replicate a folding wing that is latched and fully locked in its fully extended flight position,” MacPherson said. Separate ongoing ground-based demonstrations are exploring the mechanism by which a future wing might fold.Airbus validated early concepts through digital simulation, and MacPherson said the company has “performed intensive wind tunnel testing to really evaluate and optimize” different variants. Building on WoT concepts that pair a 17-meter (56-foot) main wing box with a five-meter (16-foot) folding section, he expects the extension devices “to be in that order of magnitude.”While Wing of Tomorrow lead Sue Partridge acknowledged that folding wings are nothing new—including within military applications—this technology has never been applied to a high-rate single-aisle commercial aircraft before.This phase comes as Airbus completes assembly of its first three ground-based wing demonstrators, which combine more than 100 technologies from 40 partners worldwide. Since 2014, the UK Aerospace Technology Institute program has put £227 million ($304 million) behind Wing of Tomorrow.The audio and content of this podcast shall not be used for AI model training or any other purposes. That’s all for this episode of Aviation Newsletter. Thank you for listening. Podcast by Olivia. Sound Edited by Priscilla. Aviation Newsletter is brought to you by the Starrime team. 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