In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, Jun. 23, 2022

Taiwan Grounds S-70C Fleet Following Crash

The Taiwan Navy has grounded all of its Sikorsky S-70C(M) helicopter fleet after one crashed at Zuoying Naval Base on June 22, leaving four injured, including one critically. Navy Chief of Staff Chiang Cheng-kuo said preliminary reports point to a tail rotor failure. Photos circulating online show the S-70C(M), known locally as the Thunderhawk, crashed in an upright position but with significant fire damage to the rear cabin and tail section. Credit: Lockheed Martin

Airbus Establishes Team For German H145M Light Utility Helicopter Need

Airbus Helicopters has established an industry team to offer the company’s H145M twin-engine light rotorcraft to meet a German requirement for a Light Utility Helicopter (LUH). The OEM has joined with Ecms Aviation Systems, Hensoldt’s Avionics and Sensors businesses, Liebherr-Aerospace, Rohde & Schwarz, Safran Helicopter Engines and ZF Luftfahrttechnik to form LUH SK Team H145M. LUH SK is short in German for Light Utility Helicopter Streitkrafte (Armed Forces). Credit: Airbus Helicopters/Cara Irina Wagner

MBDA Unveils Ground-Launched, Deep-Fires Cruise-Missile Concept

Missile manufacturer MBDA has unveiled a ground-launched cruise-missile solution to a growing European demand for ground-based deep fires. The Joint Fire Support Missile (JFS-M) unveiled here at the ILA Berlin Air Show is designed to be a modular weapon with a range of up to 499 km (310 mi.) that builds off the company’s development of uncrewed remote carriers for the European Future Combat Air System (FCAS). Credit: MBDA

Satellite Communications Equipment Startup SatixFy Names New CEO

Satellite communications equipment startup SatixFy, which is waiting to go public under a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal, said June 23 David Ripstein will be its new CEO. Ripstein, who is scheduled to take office June 27, was CEO of Radcom and GreenRoad Technologies. Credit: SatixFy

Redwire Sells ‘First’ Space-Made Crystal

Redwire has sold what it says is the “first” space-manufactured optical crystal, to researchers at Ohio State University. The company is hailing the sale as the first of many transactions in a future space-made economy. “This is an exciting milestone that validates our commercialization plan for manufacturing space-enabled products in low-Earth orbit and further stimulates demand for in-space production,” said Redwire President Andrew Rush on June 23. Credit: Redstone

Spain Joins Germany In Expanding Eurofighter Order

The four-nation Eurofighter program has secured a further 20 orders for the combat aircraft after Spain signed its Halcon contract. The country becomes the second Eurofighter partner nation to top-up its order after Germany, with 20 new-build aircraft replacing aging Boeing F/A-18 Hornets based on the Canary Islands. Credit: Alamy stock photo

NASA Passes On Additional Space Launch System Tanking Test

NASA has decided it has enough data from a series of launchpad tanking tests on the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule to return the stack to the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and begin preparations for launch. The fourth Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) ended on June 20 with 29 sec. left in the simulated countdown due to a hydrogen leak. The leak was detected earlier in the day in a 4-in. quick-disconnect fitting that attaches from the tail-service mast on the mobile launcher to the rocket’s core stage. Credit: NASA

Blue Canyon CubeSat Demonstrating Autonomous Orbit At Low Altitude

Launched on last month’s SpaceX Transporter 5 rideshare mission, a small satellite is allowing Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) to demonstrate a streamlined method of operation. The Agile Microsat (AMS) is a 6U cubesat bus built by BCT, a Raytheon Technologies subsidiary, for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory. BCT is using its own guidance, navigation and control system with a propulsion system provided by MIT to maneuver itself into a low-altitude orbit. Credit: Blue Canyon Technologies

House Appropriators Approve 2023 NASA Budget Increase

The U.S. House Appropriations commerce, justice and science subcommittee has marked up a $25.45 billion NASA fiscal 2023 budget measure that would provide less than the $25.97 billion requested by the White House but more than the $24.04 billion the space agency received for the current fiscal year. The budget legislation now moves to the full Appropriations Committee for a scheduled June 28 markup, while the U.S. Senate prepares its version. Credit: NASA

Ariane 5 Launches Indian And Malaysian Telecom Satellites

An Ariane 5 rocket has lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, to place two telecommunications satellites—including one with a payload to improve South Korean air traffic control—into geostationary orbit. In Arianespace’s first launch of the year, the Ariane 5 lifted off at 6:50 p.m. local time on June 22 from Europe’s Guiana Space Center. It orbited MEASAT-3d for Malaysian operator MEASAT and GSAT-24, built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for NewSpace India Ltd. Credit: European Space Agency/CNES/Arianespace

South Korean Nuri Launches Two Satellites Into LEO

South Korea has become the seventh country to develop heavy-rocket technology, after placing two satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO) with its Nuri rocket. The successful flight June 21 follows a failed launch of a dummy satellite in October 2021, in which the Nuri’s third stage shut down prematurely. Credit: Korea Aerospace Research Institute

Boeing Boosts Safety Plan With Aireon Space-Based ADS-B Data

As part of Boeing’s growing suite of safety initiatives, the company has selected Aireon, a provider of space-based automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) services, to supply historic and near real-time flight data to expand the aircraft manufacturer’s advanced data-analytics capabilities. Boeing will integrate the ADS-B data into its safety analytics tools as part of the company’s implementation of an enterprise Safety Management System (SMS), a broad-based best-practices framework for managing risks that was adopted as part of Boeing’s Global Aerospace Safety Initiative. Credit: Aireon

From Taiwan Grounds S-70C Fleet Following Crash to Airbus Establishes Team For German H145M Light Utility Helicopter Need. Take a look at these and more in our daily roundup of aerospace & defense news.

These are some of the top stories from AWIN. Subscribe now for unrivalled, intelligent content, trustworthy data, exclusive analytics and meaningful insight. AWIN Premium is the only online resource that spans the commercial, military, business aviation and MRO market sectors.

With a focus on the programs and technologies shaping the market, as well as the most robust databases in the industry, AWIN Premium simplifies locating new business opportunities so you can generate new revenue.

AWIN Premium Membership includes Aviation Daily, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, and The Weekly of Business Aviation, and digital access to Aviation Week & Space Technology, Inside MRO, Air Transport World (ATW), and Business & Commercial Aviation (BCA). 

Aviation Week Intelligence Network
Monitor the market and connect your business to the people, programs and proprietary data driving the Aerospace & Defense market - only available with AWIN.

ASD_AWIN_thumbnail_270

Stay Connected.
Stay Informed
Grow Your Business.

Learn How