In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, Mar 21, 2022

March 21, 2022

Australia Designates Loyal Wingman As MQ-28A Ghost Bat

Credit: Australian Department of Defense via Boeing



The Australian government and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) have designated the Boeing Airpower Teaming System, or Loyal Wingman, as the MQ-28A Ghost Bat. The naming is another milestone for the program as it continues development and testing. Two flying Ghost Bats are now in the sensor and payload integration phase.




Viasat, Inmarsat Promise To Grow UK Jobs And Spend 30% More In R&D

Credit: Trifilm/Alamy Stock Photo



Viasat and Inmarsat, the U.S. and UK satellite-based services providers, have promised the British government they will boost overall research and development (R&D) spending there by 30% after their proposed merger. The companies announced March 21 that the UK Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Department “welcomed” the legally binding proposal as part of the proposed combination of the two companies.




UK Gets U.S. Approval For Ballistic Missile Defense Radar Acquisition

Credit: Bob Collier/Sygma/Getty Images



The U.S. State Department has approved the sale of a Lockheed Martin Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Radar and associated command and control systems to the UK. The UK had requested the acquisition of the yet-to-be-identified radar and two of the company’s Command and Control Battle Management and Communications systems in a package worth $700 million, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced March 17.




Russia Claims Kinzhal Strike On Ukrainian Munitions Store

Credit: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images



Russian forces claim to have used the Kinzhal hypersonic missile operationally for the first time. The air-launched ballistic Kinzhal, which Moscow claims to be able to fly at speeds of up to Mach 10, was used to attack a large underground warehouse of missiles and aviation ammunition located at Delyatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region of western Ukraine on March 18, according to Russian defense ministry officials quoted by Russian state news agency TASS.




OneWeb Signs With SpaceX For Launch Services

Credit: SpaceX



Eighteen days after OneWeb decided to suspend launches of its broadband satellites from Russia in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the company has signed with SpaceX. With 428 satellites—about 66% of its constellation—already in orbit, OneWeb said on March 21 it hopes to resume flights this year. The launches took place aboard Russian Soyuz rockets flying from Russia’s Baikonur and Vostochny cosmodromes, and from the European Space Agency’s spaceport in French Guiana.




Sierra Nevada/Volansi Selected To Bid For FTUAS Contract

Credit: Sgt. Eric D. Warren/U.S. Army



A Sierra Nevada/Volansi team has been selected to compete for Increment 2 of the U.S. Army’s program to replace a fleet of Textron RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). A military version of the Volansi Voly 10 will participate in the base period of the Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS) Increment 2 program, prime contractor Sierra Nevada announced March 21.




Russia’s Reported Use Of Hypersonic Khinzal Puzzles Pentagon

Credit: Piotr Butkowski



Russia’s claim that it fired a Khinzal hypersonic missile at a munitions store in Ukraine within the past few days has left the Pentagon perplexed. While the U.S. military cannot independently confirm use of the missile, reportedly fired from a Mikoyan MiG-31 fighter outside Ukrainian airspace, it also cannot refute it. Russian state media said the strike on March 18 hit a Ukrainian ammunition warehouse in the west of the country.




Marines Check V-22 Nacelle Mods As Third USAF Osprey Nears Completion

Credit: Bell Helicopter



The U.S. Marine Corps has flown more than 75 hr. in a modified Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor to evaluate the company's nacelle upgrades, as two of the Air Force’s variants have completed changes. The tiltrotor’s nacelles, which house power and propulsion parts for the aircraft with complex wiring bundles, have shown to be a maintenance-heavy part of the aircraft, responsible for than 60% of maintenance manhours. Bell Boeing in January 2021 received an $81 million contract for modification kits to install one and conversion area harnesses to address the problem areas.




PE Firm Takes Over Former Roberts Tool, Subject Of Book On Lean

Credit: RTC Aerospace



RTC Aerospace, a subtier precision-manufacturing company for aerospace and defense, has changed owners, with private-equity firm Stellex Capital taking over from investor and former CEO Brad Hart as the business eyes acquisition growth. Financial details were not provided. Stellex said it partnered with David Herr, a veteran executive whose background includes service at GE Aviation and BAE Systems, in the deal. Hart—who wrote a guidebook about the 65-year-old company’s transformation via lean-manufacturing principles—remains on the board of directors with a stake, the companies said March 21.




UK Engineers Create Virtual Mars Wind-Tunnel Simulator

Credit: Imperial College London



Engineers at the Imperial College of London have created a virtual wind tunnel called PyFR, capable of simulating the atmospheric conditions on Mars for the testing of rotorcraft blade designs that could enable longer-distance travel at higher altitudes with heavier payloads than possible by NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter at Mars. By comparing their results with those from the real-life Mars Wind Tunnel in Tohoku University in Japan, the Imperial College team found their simulations recreated true Martian conditions with a much higher degree of accuracy than had been possible on Earth, according to a statement from the college.




Rocket Lab To Launch Prototypes For Greg Wyler’s E-Space

Credit: RocketLab.com



E-Space, a startup founded by space communications entrepreneur Greg Wyler, has signed a contract with Rocket Lab to launch three demonstration satellites aboard an Electron rocket in the second quarter of 2022. Wyler, who founded O3b Networks and OneWeb, plans to build rapidly and deploy a secure, scalable constellation that is designed to reduce substantially the potential to generate orbital debris.




The Weekly Debrief: A Few New Twists In USAF’s Fighter EW Upgrade Plans

Credit: Aviation Week file photo



The electronic warfare (EW) suites for the enduring U.S. Air Force fighter fleet are now set—and there are some surprises. The U.S. Air Force’s acquisition of the Boeing F-15EX includes, as expected, the BAE Systems Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability Suite (EPAWSS), but missing a key infrared missile-warning feature inherited from the certified configurations of the twin-engine fighter adopted by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.




Space-Based SAR Services Startup Ursa Space Lands Series C Funding

Credit: Ursa Space Systems



Ursa Space, a satellite-based synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) services startup, said March 21 it raised $16 million in Series C venture capital and will use it to increase capacity and field sales operations in support of Earth-observation (EO) data for supply chains and related businesses. The latest round was led by Dorilton Ventures. “Ursa Space’s ability to generate analysis-ready data quickly and at reduced cost has attracted demand from leading space-industry players and end users,” said the company’s general partner, Daniel Freeman.




From Russian forces claiming to have used the Kinzhal hypersonic missile operationally for the first time, to Viasat and Inmarsat, the U.S. and UK satellite-based services providers, promising the British government they will boost overall research and development (R&D) spending by 30% after their proposed merger. Take a look at these and more in our daily roundup of aerospace & defense news. 

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