Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

NORTHROP GRUMMAN’s AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection System achieved Initial Operational Capability with U.S. Navy.

Associate NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot will take over as acting administrator on Jan. 20.

View the Forecast Friday: Western Piloted Military Aircraft MRO Demand By Family chart in PDF format.

NASA and European Space Agency spacewalkers have all but closed out the two-week opening round of a long-running battery upgrade outside the International Space Station.

Lockheed Martin Chairman President and CEO Marillyn Hewson told President-elect Donald Trump on Jan. 13 that the F-35 provider was close to striking another production-lot contract that would see “significantly” lower unit costs of future Joint Strike Fighters.

Italian aerospace and defense company Leonardo has signed deals with Rome to deliver a new attack helicopter for the Italian army, and an initial order for the new M345 High Efficiency Trainer (HET).

The French armament procurement agency DGA this week announced it has ordered a fourth system of three General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper medium-altitude, long endurance (MALE) UAVs and an accompanying ground segment.

Boeing is looking forward to beginning full-rate production and operation of the new U.S. Air Force KC-46 tanker in 2017.

In a 62-page report that focuses primarily on delays and challenges for the F-35 program, one of the Joint Strike Fighter’s toughest critics highlighted progress toward fixing a safety issue with the aircraft’s ejection seat.

Italian industrial holding company Leonardo has withdrawn from Russian joint venture Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC), which designs and manufactures the Sukhoi Superjet 100.

THALES ALENIA SPACE’s Bangabandhu Satellite-1 for Bangladesh passed satellite and satellite control segment Critical Design Reviews in Cannes at the end of 2016.

The U.S. Air Force is preparing to launch the third Space Based Infrared System (Sbirs) satellite to geosynchronous Earth orbit on Jan. 19.

On a visit to Washington, Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva, president and CEO of Brazilian aircraft builder Embraer, sat down for a round table with Aviation Week editors.

The schedule for South Korea's Chunggung PIP anti-ballistic missile system has been .

President-Elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, is firmly committed to modernizing the nation’s nuclear triad, but may not be on board with developing a new strategic cruise missile to arm the U.S. Air Force’s bomber fleet.

CEO Mauro Moretti spoke to journalists in London Jan. 12 as the company—previously known as Finmeccanica—formally revealed its new British identity, Leonardo MW.

The fire-and-forget JAGM was launched from an AH-64D Apache attack helicopter, striking a remote-controlled boat.

Roscosmos identified a possible breach of the Soyuz-U's third-stage oxygen propellant tank as the cause of a Dec.1 Progress resupply loss.

CAE has signed a pair of training services contracts worth more than C$1 billion ($760 million).

Airbus, which had a 49% stake in naval electronics firm Atlas Elektronik, is selling its interest to majority stakeholder ThyssenKrupp.

Islamic State terrorists are now using small drones to drop bombs on Iraqi security forces, a top U.S. Army commander in Iraq revealed.

TEXTRON has $206m U.S. Army Contractor Logistics Support contract for the 117 Shadow Tactical Aircraft Systems.

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said Jan. 6 that the agency’s second—and now annual—drone symposium will be in March in the Washington, D.C., area.

The outgoing U.S. Navy secretary indicates President-elect Donald Trump’s ongoing pledge to reduce the cost of the F-35 by stoking competition using the F/A-18 is an empty one.

NASA safety advisors are urging the agency to proceed with caution before accepting SpaceX’s plan to load densified propellant into its Falcon 9 launch vehicle with a crew already on board in a Dragon capsule.