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Magazine Issue

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, December 18, 2025

VOL. 294 NO. 55 December 18, 2025
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Daily Briefs

Daily Briefs
article

Daily Briefs

Dec 18, 2025
BOEING gets Super Hornet service life award... NORTHROP teams with 4IG... SUBARU BELL 412EPX Middle East tour continues...

Funding & Policy

U.S. Capitol. Credit: U.S. Army
article

Senate Sends NDAA To Trump’s Desk

Dec 17, 2025
The Senate on Dec. 17 passed the fiscal 2026 defense policy bill.
Arrow 3
article

Germany OKs Massive Arms Package Including Missiles, Sats

Dec 17, 2025
The German parliament has given the green light to a mammoth €50 billion ($59 billion) package of arms deals covering missiles, satellites and more.
Credit: MBDA
article

European Union Earmarks €1B For 2026 Defense Fund Work

Dec 17, 2025
The European Union plans to contribute €1 billion to the 2026 European Defense Fund program, with hypersonic defenses gaining a large share of the allocation.
Jared Isaacman, President Donald Trump's nominee to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), looks on during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on his nomination at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI Credit: UPI/Alamy Live News Contributor: UPI
article

Senate Confirms Isaacman As NASA Administrator

Dec 17, 2025
The U.S. Senate has completed the confirmation of entrepreneur billionaire and private astronaut Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator.
de
article

Debrief: Commercial Space Telescope Offers New Model For Space Science

Dec 17, 2025
As the Trump Administration plans to gut funding for space science programs, a new idea has launched: scientific-telescope-as-service.
iceye satellite earth-observation image
article

Finland Plans SAR Satellite Cooperation With Poland, Netherlands

Dec 17, 2025
Finland says it plans to make its synthetic aperture radar satellite constellation available to others, with Poland and the Netherlands as its first partners.
Taiwan has the potential to become a leading defense tech exporter by partnering with U.S. companies and widening industry participation to include its largest OEMs Image credit: Matthew Fulco
article

Taiwan’s Defense Tech Sector At Inflection Point, Panelists Say

Dec 11, 2025
Taiwan has the advanced manufacturing capabilities to become a leading exporter of defense technology systems.

Business

air astana a3210neo
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BAE Systems Raises $52M In Air Astana Share Sale

Dec 17, 2025
BAE Systems has raised $52.2 million from the sale of most of its stake in Air Astana.
K2 Space
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Sat Maker K2 Space Raises $250M In New Venture Capital

Dec 11, 2025
Startup sat maker K2 Space said it raised $250 million in Series C venture capital fund raising ahead of the planned March 2026 launch of its Gravitas demo.

Programs

U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs
article

U.S. Military Sets Event To Kick Off Nuclear Communications Upgrade

Dec 17, 2025
A key piece of the future nuclear command, control and communications (NC3) enterprise will kick off next month with a classified briefing to industry.
Embraer
article

Embraer, Portugal Open Talks For A-29 Assembly Line

Dec 17, 2025
Portugal’s defense minister declared interest in local assembly for Embraer A-29 light combat and trainer aircraft on Dec. 17.
Northrop Grumman is building two satellites for the U.S. Space Force under the Next-Generation OPIR polar program.
article

Northrop Building Classified Payload For Future OPIR Polar Sats

Dec 16, 2025
Northrop is supplying an extra, classified payload to be integrated onto the U.S. Space Force’s next-generation overhead persistent infrared polar-based sats.
Draco Aircraft
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Draco Takes Aim At Military Market With STOVL Aircraft

Dec 17, 2025
Polish aircraft startup Draco Aircraft is making a play for the low-cost combat aircraft market.
anduril gkn archer proposal for nyx
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Anduril Teams With GKN Aerospace And Archer On British Army ACP Bid

Dec 10, 2025
GKN Aerospace and Anduril have teamed up to work together on autonomous collaborative platforms (ACP) for use by the UK military.
aircraft on runway
article

Pegasus Sigint Aircraft Reaches Germany For Mods

Dec 11, 2025
The first Bombardier Global 6000 due for full conversion into the German Air Force’s next signals-intelligence aircraft has arrived in Germany for modification.

Operations

Ariane 6
article

Arianespace To Kick Off 2026 Campaign With Ariane 64 Inaugural Flight

Dec 17, 2025
Arianespace is gearing up for the first launch of the Ariane 64 as its first mission of 2026 with the main components of the heavy-lift version due at the launch site early next year.
hanbit nano rocket on launchpad
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Innospace's Inaugural Hanbit-Nano Launch Slips

Dec 17, 2025
South Korean launch newcomer Innospace is making a last-minute hardware swap on its Hanbit-Nano rocket, delaying the planned inaugural launch by two days.

Air Forces In Focus

AFIF_USArmy
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Air Forces In Focus: U.S. Army Transformation Initiative Seven Months On

Dec 17, 2025
Air Forces in Focus analyzes the results so far of the Army Transformation Initiative unveiled in May.