Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The Trump administration's $19.1 billion fiscal 2018 budget plan for NASA would prioritize deep-space missions but scrap the previous administration’s plan to capture an asteroid.

The budget proposal lifts sequestration caps, invests in critical munitions to fight violent extremists, increases the number of U.S. Navy ships and funds additional U.S. Air Force F-35s.

The South Korean navy has dropped a plan to buy and refurbish 16 Lockheed Martin S-3 Vikings, shifting its focus to the possibility of an order for new aircraft.

The Martian surface is within reach of human explorers by the early to mid-2030s, and Martian orbit by 2026-28, provided funding is made available and some key technology decisions are reached soon, a panel says.

OneWeb Satellites on March 16 kicked off construction of its proposed $85 million, high-volume satellite manufacturing factory in Exploration Park, Florida, near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Textron Aviation has officially decided that it cannot compete for the U.S. Air Force’s $16 billion next-generation training aircraft program with the company’s Scorpion.

Missile manufacturer MBDA had another strong year of orders in 2016 and plans more recruitments this year.

Britain and Japan will look at the possibility of jointly developing a fighter, probably for entry into service in the 2030s.

Russian Helicopters has begun work on the development of a light helicopter in the 1.6-metric ton (3,500 lb.) class, the company has revealed.

NASA, Orbital ATK and United Launch Alliance have slipped the launch of Orbital’s seventh NASA-contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station by three days to March 24, with the possibility of a one-day advance.

Singapore has declared its Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Heron unmanned aircraft fully operational, five years after the system’s delivery.

LOCKHEED MARTIN has $64.7m U.S. Navy contract for work on the integrated core processor to reduce constraints on F-35 production Lot 15.

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has taken temporary charge of the Indian defense ministry after previous defense chief Manohar Parrikar stepped down.

Russian state corporation Rostec says it is testing technology to convert solar energy into laser energy that can be beamed to Earth from an orbiting power satellite.

SpaceX beat out United Launch Alliance (ULA) to win a $96.5 million contract to launch a next-generation GPS III satellite to orbit, a huge victory for Elon Musk’s space venture.

Eutelsat on March 16 will formally receive from Airbus Defense and Space its new Eutelsat 172B telecommunications satellite.

Japanese online retailer Rakuten has formed a joint venture with low-altitude airspace service provider AirMap to provide air traffic management for UAVs, or UTM, in Japan.

Maritime Launch Services (MLS), a Canadian company, has chosen a spaceport in Nova Scotia as a site to launch Ukrainian rockets by 2020.

A who’s who of U.S. aerospace and defense companies is offering industry’s cover to help make sure Washington passes a Republican tax regime that is in part expected to cut corporate rates.

An Indian air force Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter crashed March 15 while on a routine training sortie. Both pilots ejected safely.

South Korea has contracted with Boeing for an additional five years of support of the country’s 60 F-15K fighters.

Three crewmen are missing and presumed dead after the March 14 crash of a Sikorsky S-92 search and rescue helicopter operated for the Irish coast guard.

U.S. AIR FORCE conducted first maintenance inspection of the exterior of a C-17 Globemaster III using a quadcopter UAV at Edwards AFB, CA, on March 6.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is slated to launch the EchoStar 23 communications satellite from Kennedy Space Center.

Blue Storm Associates Inc., doing business as Pemdas Technologies and Innovation, Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded a $49,500,000 order dependent contract.