Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Businesses often chafe at government regulations. But the burgeoning small UAV industry is imploring President Donald Trump to reinstate some regulations just to help businesses get off the ground. “Without rulemaking from the FAA, operations over people and beyond the visual line of sight will remain prohibited, thereby stifling thousands of business opportunities and consumer benefits,” the Small UAV Coalition says.

SpaceX has two paying customers for a lunar flyaround, and will try to send them on their way before the end of 2018, founder Elon Musk said Feb. 27.
Space

The chain of 49 early warning and control radars built during the Cold War to safeguard North America are becoming obsolete, and the U.S. and Canada have begun looking for a longer-range, wider-area replacement for detecting threatening aircraft, missiles and ships.
Defense

By Jen DiMascio
President Donald Trump’s proposal for a $54 billion increase in defense spending will face significant hurdles in Congress—and not just by those who oppose the administration’s planned offsets in non-defense discretionary spending.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Bell Helicopter has been quietly studying commercial derivatives of its V-280 tiltrotor, but says the civil version will only be possible if the aircraft is adopted by the military first.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Airbus is hoping to sign the first orders for its H160 twin-engine medium helicopter by year’s end.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
South African defense firm Paramount is working to develop an armament package for operators of the Aerospatiale/Airbus Helicopters SA330 Puma and the AS332 Super Puma utility and transport helicopters.
Defense

To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. For a complete list of Aviation Week Network’s upcoming events, and to register, visit www.aviationweek.com/events (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.)

By Mark Carreau
Disruptions from a tornado that struck NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Feb. 7 have likely slowed production of the propellant tanks for the core stage of the inaugural Space Launch System rocket by a couple of months.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
With the projected growth in the number of commercial satellite constellations on low Earth orbit expected to increase risk of collisions, a startup has attracted investment from Airbus and others to build a network of radars to track orbital debris.
Space

The service will abandon plans to immediately pursue a more robust, one-for-one Warthog replacement, as the venerable attack plane will continue flying well into the 2020s.
Defense

NORTHROP GRUMMAN has $14.7m Defense Logistics Agency contract for C-2A outer wing panels.

Congressional inaction may be the top threat to the U.S. Air Force, Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein indicates.

View the Forecast Friday: Western Trainer and Light Fighter New Deliveries 2017-2026 chart in PDF format.

The U.S. Air Force is developing a 2,000 lb.-class bomb called BLU-136 that will rain down metal fragments on enemy forces as a replacement for cluster munitions.
Defense

A team of NASA engineers expects to finish a report in about a month on the feasibility of flying astronauts in an Orion crew vehicle on the first
Defense

As the fight against the Islamic State intensifies and Russia beefs up its forces in the region with state-of-the-art surface-to-air missile systems, a top U.S. Air Force general says he is planning to deploy the new F-35 to the Middle East.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
In a major acquisition that seals its presence in the U.S., Canadian company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates will buy Earth imagery and info provider DigitalGlobe.
Defense

The U.S. Navy is now fully committed to fielding a stand-in decoy and electronic warfare weapon to support its Boeing EA-18G Growler and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fleets.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Russia’s Progress MS-05 cargo capsule carried out an automated docking with the Russian segment of the International Space Station early Feb. 24, marking the arrival of the second resupply spacecraft at the orbiting science laboratory within 24 hr.
Defense

By Adrian Schofield
An Asia-Pacific tour by a Royal Air Force Airbus A400M has given New Zealanders a look at the aircraft that Airbus is hoping to sell in that country.
ShowNews

Turkish armaments manufacturer Roketsan is close to selecting a U.S.-made second engine for the Stand-Off Missile (SOM-J), which is being developed for internal carriage on the Lockheed Martin F-35A/C.
Defense

By Guy Norris
Stratospheric balloon and flight exploration company World View is targeting the start of unmanned launches from Spaceport Tucson here before midyear as it continues to develop the capability for human-rated, edge-of-space passenger flights.
Defense

BOEING has $18.7m UAE contract to provide C-17 Globemaster III logistics support and training simulator maintenance.

Consultancy Visiongain estimates the annual Asia-Pacific maritime defense market reached $185.8 billion at the end of 2016.