TOULOUSE PARIS Freight is growing more rapidly than passenger traffic in a long-term trend that Airbus executives say should sustain the future of the all-cargo A380F. The A380-800F, which is scheduled to enter service in the second quarter of2008, will be, by far, the biggest all-cargo commercial transport.

WASHINGTON The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) design is proving to be even stealthier than the U.S. Air Force's requirement, say Lockheed Martin officials. The service dictated that a radar reflection from the new attack aircraft be no larger than that produced by a metal, golf-ball-size object.

WASHINGTON U.S. Air Force officials hope they will be able to build more than the 295 F-22s the Pentagon has initially authorized by beating new cost estimates previously agreed to between the service and an independent estimating group.

DALLAS Outsourcing of maintenance work by air cargo carriers is accelerating as they seek "one-stop shops" to streamline operations while urging MRO providers to prepare for coping with a myriad of aging aircraft issues that lie ahead. Steve Alterman, president of the Washington-based Cargo Airline Assn. (CAA), said he is not aware of any "systemic problems" in the freight industry with MRO providers, including those who perform heavy maintenance checks and overhaul components.

DALLAS In a benchmark test conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Gasl, a miniature, gun-launched, scramjet-powered hypersonic vehicle has produced net positive thrust in a free flight environment. The achievement is significant because it marks the first time that a scramjet vehicle has achieved powered flight under those conditions, and also signals a transition from testing hypersonic platforms using static wind tunnels or captive-carry flights to autonomous operations, said Robert Baycos, vice president of engineering at Gasl Inc. in Ronkonkoma, N.Y.