Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, January 30, 2017

While Lockheed Martin has proved it can successfully deliver aircraft from the production line, the company has yet to show it will have a reliable system in place to support the aircraft on “day two," Norwegian military officials say.

The new U.S. defense secretary has ordered a review of whether an advanced Super Hornet can provide a "competitive, cost-effective, fighter aircraft alternative" to the F-35.

The first V-model Black Hawk took to the air on Jan. 19, following the installation of the Northrop Grumman-designed cockpit by Huntsville, Alabama-based Yulista Aviation.

Russian jet maker MiG Corp. has started flight tests of MiG-35, the latest iteration of its famous MiG-29 Fulcrum light fighter.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has dropped a plan to build a civil version of its C-2 military airlifter.

California-based Kratos Defense will show off its autonomous combat UAV during a military exercise later this year.

SIERRA NEVADA CORP. delivered Dream Chaser spacecraft to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California Jan. 25 for several months of testing in preparation for approach and landing flight on Edwards AFB’s 22L runway. LEIDOS has $350m, 10-year U.S. Air Force contract to continue providing mission planning systems engineering and integration for Joint Mission Planning Enterprise.

German aerospace center DLR plans to fly a freight drone with a payload up to 1 metric ton by the end of 2017 under its research program for the year. To be developed under the Automated Low-Altitude Air Delivery (ALAADy) project, the unmanned aircraft is aimed at missions include humanitarian relief and urgent delivery of spare parts. Research is focusing on the safety aspects and economic benefits of operating freight drones at very low altitude and integrating them into the current air transport system, says DLR

Airbus Helicopters CEO Guillaume Faury has said that 2016 was as difficult a year for the rotary-wing industry as 2008 at the height of the global financial crisis. And it is unlikely to improve this year.

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