Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

News in brief.

PRATT gets $670m F135 award... ASCENT SOLAR TECHNOLOGIES ties up with defense-focused partner... RED CAT plans IPO...

The U.S. and Ukraine will jointly invest $150 million in a fund that will help rebuild the country and develop its vast critical minerals resources,

Space access and satellite provider Rocket Lab is looking to raise $750 million gross from a share sale, according to a securities filing.

Amazon is preparing its fifth batch of Kuiper broadband satellites for launch next week.

Iron Beam prime contractor Rafael, along with the Israeli Air Force and the Directorate of Defense Research & Development, have completed weeks of testing in southern Israel.

MaiaSpace is on track for a first flight of its mini-launcher late in 2026, a first step toward creating a family of reusable rockets, its CEO says.

Astranis has contracted Impulse Space to directly inject its MicroGEO communications satellite into geostationary orbit in 2027 using the Helios kick stage.

Northrop Grumman’s new testbed with its company-developed autonomy software is set to fly imminently.

Axiom Space has launched the Axiom Space University Alliance.

Bluetooth satellite network creator Hubble has raised $70 million from investors in a Series B funding round, the Seattle-based startup said on Sept. 17.

U.S. investors led a $15 million Series A round in a Ukrainian software developer for swarming drones.

British-made alternative to the StormBreaker small diameter glide bomb.

The UK defense ministry has formally launched the hunt for a new light aerobatic training aircraft to replace the Grob G115 Tutor.

Colorado-based rocket engine developer Ursa Major is entering a new growth phase.

The Portuguese government has signed an amendment in its contract with Embraer to purchase a sixth KC-390 airlifter and has added 10 purchase options.

China’s Space Pioneer completed the first-stage engine test of its Tianlong-3 rocket on Sept. 15.

HawkEye 360 is gearing up to start deploying a new generation of its electronic intelligence spacecraft that should slash production costs.

Denmark is to acquire long-range precision weapons in a bid to strengthen the country’s security in the face of the new regional threat, Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen says.

Aarok, the medium-altitude, long-endurance turboprop uncrewed aircraft system developed by French company Turgis Gaillard, has made its first flight.

Latitude’s Zephyr microlauncher will fly at the end of next year, a one-year delay from its earlier schedule, commercial director Adeline Pitrois said Sept. 17.

The ESA is poised to ask member states to back the European sovereign satellite communications IRIS² program with €600 million in the next funding cycle.

Atmos Space Cargo is expanding its focus on the defense market, floating the idea of using its capsule to allow military users to rapidly deploy missiles from space.

SpaceX is in talks with countries to give them sovereign satellite communications capabilities, says Gwynne Shotwell, the company’s president.

NASA and Northrop Grumman are revising the flight plan for the Cygnus XL cargo ship to rendezvous with International Space Station.