Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The Pentagon has rolled back an Obama administration requirement that sought to make companies better align their so-called independent R&D with Defense Department technology goals.

Sikorsky is beginning major assembly of the first aircraft of the U.S. Air Force’s HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) program at its production facility in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Indonesian Aerospace has delivered the last two of six Airbus H225M search-and-rescue helicopters, ordered by the country’s air force in 2012.

Russia does not plan to launch its new science lab to the International Space Station (ISS) until late 2018.

The U.S. Air Force may eliminate a phase of helicopter pilot training in order to free up resources to produce additional fighter pilots.

Fifty years after Australia launched its first satellite into space, the government on Sept. 25 announced plans to establish a national space agency.

The main engine of the forthcoming H3 Japanese space launcher has performed successfully in a series of hot-fire tests, with program engineers working toward a first flight in around three years.

Reaction Engines has won a contract from Darpa to conduct high-temperature testing of the pre-cooler technology at the heart of its proposed hypersonic air-breathing combined cycle Sabre rocket concept.

Germany and Norway have signed contracts for five Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transports.

An Italian Air Force test pilot was killed Sept. 24 in the crash of a Eurofighter Typhoon at an air display.

India’s state-run space agency has begun work on IRNSS-1I, the ninth satellite of the country’s navigation constellation, following the failed launch of a backup satellite last month.

The two most serious issues are uncommanded refueling boom extensions and the boom operator’s inability to detect when the probe has missed the receiver aircraft’s receptacle and causes damage.

RUSSIA test launched Yars ICBM Sept. 20 from Plesetsk.

The Senate’s version of the fiscal 2017 defense authorization bill sets up a showdown over the controversial proposal to create a Space Corps.

Sierra Nevada Corp. has offered the first glimpse of its “Freedom Aircraft” prototype, originally conceived for the U.S. Air Force's $16 billion T-X trainer competition.

The Atlantic I will formally end its 45-year career in October in favor of the Leonardo P-72, a maritime patrol version of the ATR-72-600 turboprop-powered regional airliner.

Osiris-Rex, NASA’s first-ever asteroid sample return mission spacecraft, swooped close to Earth on Sept. 22 for a planned gravity assist maneuver on its way to the space rock Bennu.

Inmarsat has chosen Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ H-IIA rocket to launch Inmarsat-6 F1 in 2020.

Boeing and Turkey on Sept. 21 announced a new level of commitment to help grow that country’s aerospace industry.

Alessandro Profumo, the new head of Italian aerospace and defense company Leonardo, has ordered a management shake-up.

The retrofitting of more than 200 early versions of the F-35 already out in the fleet with the new configuration of the Martin-Baker ejection seat will not be completed until about summer 2019.

GENERAL DYNAMICS-OTS INC. has $24m U.S. Army contract for Hydra rockets.

Lockheed Martin unveiled a new family of satellite buses at this week’s Air Force Association symposium near Washington.

This month U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (Afsoc) will declare operational its most powerful new airborne gunship, the Lockheed Martin AC-130J Ghostrider.

New and legacy federal information technology providers, including many aerospace and defense prime contractors, are finally seeing substantial money flowing toward their cloud-based service offerings.