In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, May. 24 2023

Credit: Gitai.

Tokyo-based Gitai, a startup developing several space robots, has raised about ¥4 billion ($29 million) in funding as part of a Series B extension round. 

Credit: U.S. National Guard.

A promised supply of Western fighter jets has prompted a comprehensive review within Ukraine’s air force of its structure, training and logistics needs, Ukraine President Vladimir Zelenskyy said on May 24.

Credit: NASA.

Russia’s MS-23 Progress resupply mission spacecraft autonomously docked to the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) at midday May 24 with a 2.7-ton cargo of food, water, crew supplies and propellant.

Credit: Philippine Navy.

Leonardo and Airbus are positioning themselves to fulfill the Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) requirement for naval helicopters, hoping to leverage their current presence in Malaysia.

Credit: media.defense.gov.

A U.S. Air Force official has approved the start of a sprawling, multistate construction project to support the U.S. Air Force’s future intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program.

Credit: BAE Systems.

BAE Systems will continue developing a ramjet-powered, 155-mm artillery shell for the U.S. Army under a three-year contract extension worth up to $72.5 million, the company says. 

Credit: Israel Aerospace Industries.

The Czech Republic has canceled plans to acquire Heron uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) from Israel, prioritizing instead the purchase of tactical UAS for the army.

Credit: Oleksii Reznikov Twitter Feed.

The first image of a Ukrainian Air Force combat aircraft carrying a UK-supplied MBDA Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missile has emerged.

Credit: Leonardo.

Malaysia’s Weststar Aviation is expecting to receive its Leonardo AW609 tiltrotor in Q2 2024, as part of an agreement with the Italian original equipment manufacturer.

Credit: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images.

Virgin Orbit, once a high-flying example of both space-launch technology and SPAC-fueled investor frenzy, will close after selling its assets to four winning bidders of a U.S. bankruptcy auction.