In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, Oct. 05 2022

South Korean telecommunications provider KT has completed the country’s first 5G wireless network dedicated to urban air mobility (UAM).

A recent contract award shows that Boeing is still involved in long-range air-to-air missile development, giving the U.S. military a third option to ongoing efforts by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon as the Air Force prepares to start a new research and development program. 

NASA’s SpaceX-contracted Crew-5 mission was on course to deliver four U.S., Japanese and Russian crewmembers to the International Space Station (ISS) on Oct. 6 following a successful Falcon 9 launch on Oct. 5 from Kennedy Space Center with a crew Dragon capsule. 

Lessors have played a major role in boosting the conditional orderbooks of electric aircraft startups, from Avolon’s preorder for 500 Vertical Aerospace four-passenger air taxis to Rockton’s letter of intent for 40 Heart Aerospace 30-seat regional airliners.

An upcoming first flight of a reusable hypersonic vehicle by Stratolaunch will also serve as a demonstration of a new airborne test range instrumentation system funded by the U.S. Defense Department. 

Spain is to sell six of its retired Sikorsky Sea King helicopters to Peru for the symbolic price of €100 ($99.81) each. 

Poland and the UK have signed agreements on the potential joint development of a future missile for air defense.

The U.S. Air Force wants to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2046 and is looking to increase the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), more electric vehicles and the quick development and testing of a blended wing body mobility aircraft by 2027 to help get there.

The Czech Defense Ministry has submitted its formal letter of request to begin the purchase of Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

Chinese startup AutoFlight has opened a U.S. office as it pursues plans to develop and certify its electric urban air taxi in Europe, manufacture the vehicle in China and market it globally.

Switzerland’s RUAG has entered the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) market through a partnership with Swiss startup Dufour Aerospace.

A Norwegian company has demonstrated a high-supersonic propulsion technology for missiles in two flight tests in August that were partly U.S. military-funded, the Pentagon announced on Oct. 5. 

Virgin Orbit has completed a full rehearsal exercise in preparation for the first orbital launch of its LauncherOne rocket from a UK spaceport. 

The Eurodrone medium altitude long endurance (MALE) uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) program has passed its Integrated Baseline Review (IBR), a key milestone toward upcoming design reviews. 

DARPA has launched its Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) program, an effort to demonstrate the long-distance wireless transmission of energy using lasers and UAVs as relays.

A South Korean lawmaker says that Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) Lockheed Martin F-35As were classified as “operationally unready” 234 times over an 18-month period ending in June—on average once every two days.