Aviation Week & Space Technology, often abbreviated Aviation Week or AW&ST, is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aerospace, defense and aviation industries, with a core focus on aerospace technology. It has a reputation for its contacts inside the United States military and industry organizations. The publication is sometimes informally called "Aviation Leak and Space Mythology" in defense circles.
History
The magazine was first published in August 1916 and changed to its current title in January 1960. Other titles the magazine has held include Aviation & Aircraft Journal, Aviation, Aviation Week, Aviation Week Including Space Technology.
Aviation Week & Space Technology is published by Aviation Week Network, a division of Informa. The magazine is headquartered in New York and its main editorial office is in Washington, DC. Aviation Week Network also publishes Business & Commercial Aviation and Air Transport World magazines.
Notable stories
Nuclear bomber hoax
The 1 December 1958 issue of Aviation Week included an article, "Soviets Flight Testing Nuclear Bomber", that claimed that the Soviets had made great progress in their own nuclear aircraft program. This was accompanied by an editorial on the topic as well. The magazine claimed that the aircraft was real beyond a doubt, stating that "A nuclear-powered bomber is being flight tested in the Soviet Union.... It has been observed both in flight and on the ground by a wide variety of foreign observers from Communist and non-Communist countries." In reality, however, the article was a hoax. The aircraft in the photographs was later revealed to be an M-50 bomber and not a nuclear-powered plane at all.
The SR-72 is the proposed successor to the SR-71 Blackbird. There were unconfirmed rumors about the SR-72 dating back to 2007, when various sources disclosed that Lockheed Martin was developing a Mach 6 plane for the US Air Force. Such a development was confirmed on 1 November 2013, when the Skunk Works revelations were published about the development work on the SR-72 exclusively in Aviation Week & Space Technology. The magazine dubbed it 'The Son of Blackbird'. Public attention to the news was large enough to overwhelm the Aviation Week servers.
New, classified unmanned aircraft flying at Area 51 uncovering
In October 2014, Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works research lab gave Aviation Week editor Guy Norris access to a previously secret initiative to develop a compact fusion reactor that is small enough to power interplanetary spacecraft, ships and ultimately large aircraft that would virtually never require refueling. If successful, the groundbreaking project could shake up the global energy industry.
On its January 16, 2015 cover, Aviation Week & Space Technology named Russian President Vladimir Putin "The Notorious Mr. Putin - Person Of The Year." On its website, the magazine said that "no other person has had a more sweeping impact on aerospace and aviation—for better or worse—than Russian President Vladimir Putin. And for all but the most cynical of observers, Putin’s far-reaching impact has definitely been for the worse. Because of this, he is Aviation Week's 2014 Person of the Year." The controversial issue caused a backlash among readers on its comments section and on social media, with some threatening to burn the print issue in protest.
Past editors
The editors-in-chief of Aviation Week & Space Technology have been:
Lester D. Gardner: 1916–1921
Ladislas d’Orcy: 1921–1925
Donald W. McIlhiney: 1925
W. Laurence LePage: 1925–1927
Earl D. Osborn: 1927–1928
R. Sidney Bowen, Jr,: 1928–1929
Edward P. Warner: 1929–1935
S. Paul Johnston: 1936–1940
Leslie E. Neville: 1941–1947
Robert H. Wood: 1947–1955
Robert B. Hotz: 1955–1979
William H. Gregory: 1979–1985
Donald E. Fink: 1985–1995
Dave North: 1995–2003
Anthony Velocci: 2004–2012
Joseph C. Anselmo: 2013–present
Publishers
Lester D. Gardner: 1916–1927
Earl D. Osborn: 1927–1929
James H. McGraw Sr. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company: 1929–2013