In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, Oct. 10 2023

Credit: SpaceOMID.

A pair of privately owned Iranian cubesats are slated to launch as secondary payloads aboard a Russian Soyuz-2 rocket in December, marking Iran’s entree into the commercial space arena.

Credit: NRO.

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) plans to quadruple the number of satellites it has in orbit and provide 10 times the imagery and signals over the next decade, its deputy director said Oct. 10.

Credit: Sierra Nevada Corp.

The U.S. Army has selected Sierra Nevada Corp. to provide two contractor-owned, contractor-operated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft as part of a prototyping effort ahead of fielding a high-altitude ISR fleet.

Credit: NASA.

An external coolant leak from a backup radiator on the International Space Station’s (ISS) Russian segment Nauka multipurpose laboratory module has ceased, as scheduled research and technology operations aboard the seven-person orbital laboratory continue along with preparations for a NASA spacewalk, according to an Oct. 10 NASA status report.

Credit: Philippine Air Force.

The Philippine Air Force’s fleet is rapidly aging, and there are many outstanding requirements that it will need to fulfill to maintain readiness rates.

Credit: Science Photo Library/Alamy Stock Photo.

The Pentagon plans to allocate $240 million under the CHIPS and Science Act to set up eight regional innovation hubs that will serve to beef up domestic microelectronics manufacturing.

Credit: U.S. Army.

Days after the first surprise attacks by Hamas terrorists on Israel, U.S. financial analysts do not see the latest Middle East conflict rising to the same level of impetus for a long-term Western arms buildup like the Russian invasion of Ukraine did last year.

Credit: Nammo.

Flight testing will resume next fall after a two-year hiatus on a new version of a U.S. Navy- and Norwegian military-funded Nammo solid fuel ramjet (SFRJ) missile demonstrator, a company executive said Oct. 9.

Credit: SkyDrive.

SkyDrive of Japan formed a production subsidiary in September to build its electric SD-05 electric-vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft at a Suzuki Motor company manufacturing plant starting in spring 2024.

Credit: Saab AB.

A Boeing/Saab team is on track to deliver the first Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) and a new launcher to the Ukrainian military, a company official said on Oct. 9.