In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, Jan. 31 2023

KC-46

Credit: Lockheed Martin. A ballistic missile with a maneuverable warhead would be cheaper to field than a ground-launched hypersonic glide vehicle and no less survivable against current air defense systems used by China and Russia, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says in a new report. 

Credit: MBDA. France and Italy are jointly purchasing nearly 700 Aster surface-to-air missiles to replenish and modernize their stocks of weapons for ground-based and naval air defense. 

Credit: Lockheed Martin. L3Harris has frozen the design of a new electronic warfare system developed for Lockheed Martin F-16V Block 70/72s ordered by foreign governments.

Credit: Leonardo. NATO has added three more European flight training schools to its Flight Training Europe project. 

Credit: H2Fly. A center for hydrogen-fueled aviation is to be established at Stuttgart Airport in Germany, supported by funding from Baden-Wuerttemberg state and managed by fuel cell propulsion system developer H2Fly.

Credit: Northwestern Polytechnic University. China has flown a verification scale model of the BWB-330 blended wing body concept aircraft, a future civil airliner design that would carry 300-330 passengers.

Credit: Lee Jin-Man/Getty Images. South Korea and the U.S. are looking to strengthen their security cooperation with Japan, specifically through the trilateral sharing of missile-warning data, following the state visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Seoul.

Credit: Lilium. German startup Lilium has added to its list of experienced aerospace suppliers, selecting GKN Aerospace to supply the electric wiring interconnection system for the Lilium Jet electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Credit: Korean Air Aerospace Division. Korean Air Aerospace Division (KAL-ASD) will participate in the Korean Positioning System (KPS) project, South Korea’s regional alternative in the event of a GPS-denied environment.