Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Airbus’s nascent Voom on-demand helicopter service has partnered with ride-hailing company Cabify to provide passengers with ground transportation to and from heliports, beginning in Sao Paulo.

U.S. Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves says America’s ballistic missile defense system is ready to handle a ballistic missile raid by North Korea.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Ad Astra Rocket Co. reports achieving a 10-hr. milestone of accumulated firings of its VX-200SS prototype Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket at the 100-kW level.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
AAR said Aug. 9 it has received clearance from the U.S. Air Force to work on the $909 million Landing Gear Performance-Based Logistics One program.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Vector Space Systems conducted a second suborbital test of a prototype of its Vector-R small-satellite launch vehicle on Aug. 3.
Defense

The U.S. Army could respond to Russia’s deployment of a treaty-violating ground-launched cruise missile by fielding a new type of land-based hypersonic missile.
Defense

Battelle has developed a new design that does away with the wearable backpack associated with last year’s model of the anti-drone gun.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The Swiss Air Force is looking to shorten the training path to the front line for its future pilots by almost two years.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates subsidiary Space Systems Loral has signed a contract to provide a “transformational” satellite to Hughes Network Systems.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The German defense ministry is leasing a pair of PZL-Mielec M-28 twin-turboprop utility aircraft to support paratroop training.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
HOUSTON—A U.S. Army initiative slated for launch aboard SpaceX’s 12th NASA-contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station will evaluate the performance of a low-altitude, electro-optical small satellite as a direct provider of overhead reconnaissance to soldiers deployed in tactical theaters
Defense

Selected U.S. military contracts for July 31, 2017. U.S. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

BOEING has $409m U.S. Air Force contract for next-generation thermal, power, and controls (NGT-PAC), conducting applied research on future power, thermal and controls requirements. Work to be completed by July 2024. RHOADS INDUSTRIES has $8.7m U.S. Navy contract for naval nuclear propulsion components with undisclosed completion date.

This week the Space & Missile Defense Symposium gets underway in Huntsville, Alabama, with speakers including Stratcom chief Gen. John Hyten, Missile Defense Agency director Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves and U.S. Air Force Space Command chief Gen. John Raymond. On Friday in Washington, the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies hosts a breakfast discussion on “Middle East Missile Realities” with Uzi Rubin, former director of the Israeli Missile Defense Organization.

Boeing and General Dynamics Land Systems have teamed up to equip the U.S. Army’s Stryker armored fighting vehicle with missiles, guns and lasers.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Rockwell Collins still will not comment on an alleged offer to be acquired by United Technologies Corp. (UTC), Rockwell Collins Chairman, President and CEO Kelly Ortberg told the Jefferies 2017 Industrials Conference in New York on Aug. 8.

By Tony Osborne
Britain’s new HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier is set to enter its homeport of Portsmouth for the first time later this month.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Organizations representing manufacturers of small unmanned air vehicles and those operating them have criticized a UK government report into the risks associated with collisions between the systems and manned aircraft.
Defense

By Irene Klotz
The second Electron rocket is due to roll out to its launch pad in about eight weeks, company founder Peter Beck says. “If test flight two is good and we feel we don’t have a lot more to learn, then we’ll jump into commercial operations on flight three, for sure."
Defense

By Jay Menon
India’s seven-satellite regional navigation system will be linked to ground-based atomic clocks in the country.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Classified guidance sent by the Pentagon to certain military bases detailing how to counter small unmanned aircraft systems appears aimed at addressing concerns over whether and how personnel can deal with the growing threat posed by commercial drones.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Pilotless commercial aircraft can generate “meaningful savings ... via mission optimization, greater predictability and reduced flight crew and training costs," a new report says.

North Korea might have demonstrated an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, but the Pentagon says Pyongyang still hasn’t proven other critical elements required for accurate delivery of a nuclear warhead.
Defense

The U.S. Army believes the F-35 has potential as an airborne sensor for integrated air and missile defense.
Defense

BELL-BOEING has $57m U.S. Navy contract for retrofit of one MV-22 in support of the V-22 Common Configuration-Readiness and Modernization (CC-RAM) Program, intended to create one common Block C MV-22 configuration. U.S. NAVY conducted AN/SPY-6(V) Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) tracking test off the west coast of Hawaii on July 27. A medium-range ballistic missile target was launched from Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai and traced throughout its trajectory.