Aviation Week & Space Technology

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 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 (1920–1921), Aviation (1922–1947), Aviation Week (1947–1958), Aviation Week Including Space Technology (1958–1959).

Editions
Once a month the magazine publishes two editions targeted at market sectors: Defense Technology International (DTI) and MRO Edition. DTI focuses on defense technologies in operations, policies, programs and funding. MRO Edition covers the maintenance, repair and overhaul business.

Ownership and related products
Aviation Week & Space Technology is published by Aviation Week, a division of Penton Media. The magazine is headquartered in New York and its main editorial office is in Washington, DC.

Aviation Week also publishes Business & Commercial Aviation and Air Transport World magazines.

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.

Soviet reusable space shuttle
After finding a December 1976 Titan IIID launch was for a secret KH-11 spy satellite, Aviation week's space technology editor Craig Covault agreed with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. David C. Jones to hold on the story, but received details on the Buran programme which were published on March 20, 1978. It revealed progressively the KeyHole Story after William Kampiles sold the KH-11 manual to a Soviet spy.

SR-72 (Son of Blackbird) Revealing
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 a December 9, 2013 cover story, Aviation Week & Space Technology revealed details about a highly classified intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance stealth unmanned aircraft – the RQ-180 – that has been developed in secret by Northrop Grumman. The aircraft is currently flying at Area 51 in the Nevada desert and will become operational by 2015.

Lockheed Martin's secret Compact Fusion Reactor project details
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.

Vladimir Putin Named Person Of The Year
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 Editor-in-Chief's of Aviation Week & Space Technology (and its past titles) 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
 * Penton Media: 2013-present