In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, May 10, 2022

South Korea To Buy 60 New Fighters
The South Korean Air Force is preparing to purchase 60 additional fighters to replace older aircraft five years sooner than planned. The service operates about 100 F-4s and F-5s. It plans to operate the F-4s until 2024 and the F-5s until 2031, which would keep the older aircraft in use for more than 40 years. Credit: Republic of Korea Armed Forces
Xona’s Private ‘Precision’ GNSS Satellite Readies To Launch
Xona Space Systems has finished environmental testing of its Huginn demonstrator satellite ahead of its planned May 25 launch on SpaceX’s Transporter 5 rideshare mission. Credit: Xona Space Systems
AESA Radar Upgrade Begins Flight Tests On Marine Corps Hornets
A U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet has flown with a pre-production version of the Raytheon APG-79(V)4 radar, the company says. Credit: Raytheon
CH-53K Production Ramping Up With Eye On Future Vertical Lift
Sikorsky is ramping up production of the U.S. Marine Corps’ new CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter as the program approaches a full-rate decision next year, and the company is touting the digital manufacturing used to build the aircraft in its bid for the U.S. Army’s next generation of helicopters. Credit: Sikorsky
Shell Hydrogen To Support ZeroAvia Flight Tests
Energy company Shell, already a strategic investor in ZeroAvia, is to supply hydrogen to the zero-emission propulsion startup’s base in California to support flight testing of its fuel-cell powertrain. Credit: ZeroAvia
Astra Space Eyes Shetland Satellite Launch
U.S. launch startup Astra Space has teamed up with the UK’s SaxaVord Spaceport as a potential new location for satellite launches. Credit: Astra Space
GA-ASI Unveils STOL Kit For Proposed Marine Corps MQ-9Bs
The concept unveiling on the first day of the Modern Day Marine exhibition in Washington DC builds on the STOL technology originally developed by GA-ASI for the MQ-1C Gray Eagle. Credit: GA-ASI
Space Force Wants To Evolve Test And Evaluation
The U.S. Space Force is overhauling how the military tests its satellites, with the goal of speeding up the process, relying more on digital modeling to represent new threats, and growing a more skilled workforce to meet that need. Credit: U.S. Space Force
NASA Moon Planners Eager To Partner
NASA has every intention of leveraging commercial partnerships as it plans a return to the Moon with human explorers, according to those at the agency closely involved in laying the groundwork. Credit: NASA
Joby: NASA Tests Confirm eVTOL’s Low Noise
Acoustic testing completed with NASA last year confirmed the low noise profile of Joby Aviation’s tilt-prop electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxi, the startup said May 10. Credit: Joby Aviation
Ukraine Hopes To Re-Emerge As ‘Trustworthy Partner’ In Space
Ukraine is hoping to become a “trustworthy partner” to the West on future space projects, the former chairman of the country’s space agency says. Credit: Arianespace
Maxar WorldView Legion Launch Delayed After Test Issue
The highly anticipated debut of the WorldView Legion high-resolution constellation from Maxar Technologies is slipping again, this time to September, as the Colorado company works through a test configuration anomaly, executives announced late May 9. Credit: Maxar Technologies
Value Of RFQs For Aircraft Parts Issued May 1-7
Value of Requests for Quotation (RFQs) of aircraft parts for the week of May 1-7.

U.S., Europe Officials Blame Russia For Viasat Attack
The U.S., the European Union and multiple other nations on May 10 formally attributed cyber attacks against Viasat’s KA-SAT network on Feb. 24 to Russia, claiming Moscow attempted to disrupt Ukrainian command and control as the invasion began. Credit: Viasat
Rada Electronics Swings To Loss Due To U.S. Stopgap Spending
The U.S. government’s delayed spending measure for the current fiscal year led to a surprising swing in fortunes for military radar and legacy avionic supplier Rada Electronics Industries, with the Israeli company’s net loss for the first quarter of 2022 disappointing shareholders. Credit: Rada Electronics Industries
First UK Virgin Orbit Launch To Carry Defense CubeSat Demo
The UK Defense Ministry will launch a pair of CubeSats on the first planned horizontal launch from a UK spaceport as early as this summer. Credit: DSTLFrom the UK Defense Ministry launching a pair of CubeSats on the first planned horizontal launch from a UK spaceport as early as this summer, to the South Korean Air Force adding 60 fighters to replace older aircraft five years sooner than planned. Take a look at these and more in our daily roundup of aerospace & defense news.
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