In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, June. 14 2023

Credit: Kaman.

The U.S. Army has launched a bidding process for contracts to demonstrate a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) that can carry 800-1,400 lb., filling a gap in aerial cargo delivery between smaller drones and heavier crewed aircraft. 

Credit: BAE Systems.

The UK’s crewed, supersonic, low-observable demonstrator aircraft being developed in support of the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) will use the Eurojet EJ200 engine from the Eurofighter Typhoon, Rolls-Royce officials have confirmed. 

Credit: Dipper Historic/Alamy Stock Photo.

The Indonesian Defense Ministry has confirmed to local media that it has signed a contract to purchase a dozen Dassault Mirage 2000-5 aircraft from Qatar, which will be used as a stopgap platform until the arrival of its Rafales in 2026.

Credit: JAXA.

A study of a sample from an S-type asteroid returned to Earth in 2010 has produced a surprising result—evidence of sodium chloride, or table salt, that formed in the presence of water in a class of planetary bodies long thought to lack water-bearing minerals.

Credit: Turgis & Gaillard.

A French defense contractor has unveiled a 5.5-ton-class uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) now in development to perform medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) surveillance and strike missions. 

Credit: Specter Aerospace.

A small company in Boston has unveiled an effort to develop plasma-assisted combustion technology in hypersonic cruise missiles and other propulsion applications. 

Credit: Tony Osborne/AWST.

Budapest’s Saab Gripens will perform air policing of Slovakia’s airspace after the country’s gave up its MiG-29 “Fulcrum” air defense aircraft last year and transferred them to Ukraine. 

Credit: U.S. Army.

The U.S. Army has unveiled plans to stage a fly-off later this year or in 2024 of a new radar system for a future, modernized version of the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. MQ-1C Gray Eagle-Extended Range uncrewed aircraft. 

Credit: wikimedia.commons.

Kuwait has finalized a deal to acquire the Turkish-developed Baykar Bayraktar TB2 armed uncrewed aircraft system (UAS), becoming the 28th nation to buy the platform. 

Credit: Eve Air Mobility.

United Airlines and Eve Air Mobility have partnered to introduce urban air mobility (UAM) services in San Francisco, marking the latest effort by the airline to incorporate sustainable aviation technologies into its operations.