In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, Jan. 18 2023

Credit: CesiumAstro. CesiumAstro, a developer of phased array radios for satellites, has acquired TXMission, a software-defined radio and modem company, for an undisclosed amount.

Credit: USAF. A Turkish diplomat said Jan. 18 that he expects the U.S. government to approve a controversial sale of Lockheed Martin F-16s to his country over the objections of several members of Congress. 

U.S. Capitol

Credit: DOD. The U.S. Army’s top uniformed leader wants the military acquisition community and industrial base to take a “hard look at how we do business,” and identify ways to increase production when needed based on lessons learned in arming Ukraine.

Credit: Boeing. NASA has selected Boeing for a public-private partnership to develop the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator, a full-scale experimental aircraft to flight-test the drag-reducing Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) design for potential use on a future single-aisle aircraft. 

Credit: DOD. The U.S. Space Force wants to overhaul its approach to acquisition, with a focus on larger numbers of rapidly developed and launched small satellites to take over key missions such as missile warning.

Credit: ESA. Just two launches are scheduled for 2023 at Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

A400M

Credit: U.S. Navy. Tokyo is developing a cruise missile with an interchangeable warhead, enabling it to perform reconnaissance, electronic jamming and conventional strike, local paper Yomiuri has reported, citing “several government officials.” 

Credit: Ed Ram/Getty Images. Ukraine’s interior minister and senior ministry officials were killed after the helicopter they were traveling in crashed into a residential area of Brovery near Kyiv on the morning of Jan. 18.

Credit: Marc Preel/AFP/Getty Images. Sweden has inaugurated its Esrange spaceport ahead of the first planned orbital satellite launch from the facility, planned for early 2024. 

Credit: DAPA. The Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) KF-21 test-flight program has passed another milestone as the aircraft reached Mach 1 for the first time since taking to the skies in July 2022.

Credit: Romanian Air Force. NATO has forward-deployed Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne early warning aircraft to Bucharest Otopeni Airport in Romania for the first time to continue their monitoring of Russian air operations over Ukraine. 

Credit: Lockheed Martin. The Australian government has confirmed that it will buy 40 Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, the final nail in the coffin for the Army’s problematic NHIndustries NH90, known locally as the MRH-90 Taipan.

Starship