In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, Sep. 20 2022

September 21, 2022

SpinLaunch Closes $71M Series B, Eyes Coastal Base For Launcher

Credit: SpinLaunch. SpinLaunch, a Long Beach, California, startup looking to commercialize a centrifuge-based mass accelerator for space access, said Sept. 20 it has closed $71 million in a Series B round of venture capital funding.

U.S., NATO Look To Increase Air Ops In Eastern Europe

Credit: U.S. Air Force. The U.S. and NATO are looking at a new approach to fighter deployments in Eastern Europe, with two squadrons of combat aircraft deployed to the region in addition to the regular air-policing presence, with a focus on increased combat air patrols along with training.

USAF Wants African Nations To Buy C-130s For Shared Relief Missions

The U.S. Air Force plans to call on a collection of African nations to pool funds to buy a small number of Lockheed Martin C-130s to comprise a new, shared fleet to help with humanitarian missions.

Russian Helicopters Delivers First Ansat Light Twin To Africa

Credit: Alamy stock photo. Russian Helicopters has delivered the first Ansat light-twin rotorcraft to Zimbabwe.

Infrared Telescopes In Space: Next Big Thing In Planetary Protection

Credit: ESA. Europe and the U.S. are pursuing a powerful pair of infrared telescopes that, taken together, could help provide rapid warning of an asteroid hitting the planet, said a planetary protection officer at the International Astronautical Congress here Sept. 20.

NASA Hones Strategy To Bridge Moon-Mars Exploration

Credit: Irene Klotz/Aviation Week. NASA on Sept. 20 released an updated exploration framework to guide the budding Artemis lunar program toward human missions to Mars and beyond.

AFRL Opens New Office To Focus On AI-Piloted Aircraft Problems

Credit: Air Force Research Laboratory

B-21 Bomber Rollout Set For Early December

Credit: U.S. Air Force

Artist's concept of B-21.

 

Swiss Anti-F-35 Movement Ends Referendum Campaign

Credit: Lockheed Martin

F-35B

Australia To Receive 12 More Sikorsky MH-60Rs

Credit: U.S. Navy. Australia is to receive an additional 12 Sikorsky MH-60R maritime helicopters by mid-2026.

USAF Reorganizes Command And Control Modernization, ABMS Efforts

Air Forces In Focus: Royal New Zealand Air Force

Credit: Royal New Zealand Air Force. The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) is a compact air arm focused around two key tasks: mobility and maritime surveillance.

South African Gripens Should Return To Skies After New Support Contract

Gripen Credit: Awie Badenhorst / Alamy Stock Photo. Saab has secured a support contract from South Africa for service repairs and maintenance for the country’s Gripen C/D combat aircraft.

NATO’s AGS Force Receives First Global Hawk With Maritime Mode

Credit: Christian Träger. A new maritime surveillance capability has been acquired by NATO’s Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) Force following the redelivery of a modified Global Hawk uncrewed aircraft system.

Daily Memo: Does Aerospace Have the Energy to Work Through Winter?

Energy Credit: Getty Images/Peshkov. Winter is coming for aerospace and defense, and some observers are fearing the sector’s business activity may feel a chill due to rising energy costs, but does that outlook have any juice?

Air Mobility Command Clears KC-46 For Global Deployments

Credit: USAF

KC-46

Integration of HARM On Ukraine’s MiG-29s, Su-27s Took 2 Months

Credit: Ukrainian Air Force. A contractor was able to integrate Raytheon AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) on Ukraine’s MiG-29s and Su-27s in about 2 months, enabling the Ukrainian Air Force to take offline Russian air defenses in a surprisingly short timeline.

NASA’s DART Planetary Defense Mission Nears Asteroid Target

Credit: https://dart.jhuapl.edu/Press-Kit/index.php. Using a cadre of advanced technologies, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is closing in on executing the world’s first-ever attempt at demonstrating whether a spacecraft can slam into an asteroid with enough force to prevent it from destructively colliding with the Earth given adequate warning.

U.S. Air Force Wants New Ideas For EW, Munitions, Tankers

Credit: dvidshub.net. The U.S. Air Force wants new input from industry for three key mission areas—electromagnetic spectrum, weapons and its mobility aircraft—looking for emerging tech that can help the service address emerging threats.

XPrize-Winning SpaceShipOne Pilot Brian Binnie Dies

Credit: XPrize Foundation. Brian Binnie, who clinched the $10 million Ansari XPrize for the Paul Allen-Scaled Composites team that built the SpaceShipOne reusable suborbital spacecraft, has died, his family announced on Sept. 18.

NASA Incorporates Changes In Space Launch System Tanking Test

Credit: NASA. NASA launch controllers will implement new procedures as they head into a Sept. 21 launch demonstration test of the repairs to a hydrogen propellant leak that prompted a delay in a second attempt to launch the uncrewed Artemis I test flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew capsule.

From NASA hones strategy to bridge Moon-Mars exploration and U.S., NATO look to increase air ops in Eastern Europe. Take a look at these and more in our daily roundup of aerospace & defense news.

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