Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

View the Fleet Snapshot: UK Royal Air Force Piloted Aircraft chart in PDF format.

Airbus’ C295W offering has triumphed in Canada over the Leonardo C-27J and Embraer KC-390.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Airbus Helicopters has begun flight testing the first of 18 naval NH90 Sealion helicopters planned for Germany’s air arm.
Defense

By Jefferson Morris
Satellite operator Inmarsat has switched the launch of the Inmarsat S-band/Hellas-Sat 3 telecommunications spacecraft to Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket, as a result of delays in the launch schedule of original launch provider SpaceX.
Connected Aerospace

By Mark Carreau
Mars One, which proposes to become the first publicly traded venture to colonize the Red Planet, has delayed its proposed human settlement timetable.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
Japan’s proposed indigenous fighter would be larger than the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and is designed around the carriage of missiles the size of the MBDA Meteor.
Defense

The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale of AH-64E Apaches to the United Arab Emirates and CH-47F Chinooks to Saudi Arabia.
Defense

U.S., Canadian and Australian military forces will gain additional satellite communications bandwidth with the Dec. 7 launch of an upgraded Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) spacecraft from Cape Canaveral on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV.
Defense

By Maksim Pyadushkin
The Russian armed forces have rearmed one brigade with the newest modification of the Buk medium surface-to-air missiles.
Defense

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT approved $156m foreign military sale to Finland of F/A-18 Mid-Life Upgrade Program and related support, equipment, and training.

FLIR Systems has acquired Oslo-based nano-class military UAV maker Prox Dynamics for about $134 million in cash.

View the U.S. Aerospace & Defense Industry Employment in PDF format.

By Jen DiMascio
A spending bill for early 2017 answers some of the Obama administration’s top procurement wishes—including allowing full production of aerial refueling tankers.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Small, agile and responsive, Houston Precision Fasteners (HPF) is one of an estimated 1,200 small businesses scattered across the U.S. that play limited yet significant roles in the development of NASA’s Space Launch System exploration rocket and its primary future payload, the Orion crew capsule.
Defense

SpaceX has yet to present a final report to the FAA’s commercial space office, which licenses commercial launches, on the company's September pad explosion that destroyed an Israeli satellite.
Connected Aerospace

By Jay Menon
India has successfully launched Resourcesat 2A—the country’s latest Earth observation satellite.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The Chilean government has signed a contract with Sikorsky to purchase six S-70i International Black Hawks to fulfill a requirement for a new fleet of medium helicopters.
Defense

Sikorsky is on pace to begin testing the new-generation HH-60W combat rescue helicopter ahead of schedule.
Defense

By Molly McMillin
Beechcraft Corp. has announced enhancements to its King Air 350 special mission platform for higher performance.
Defense

UNITED LAUNCH SERVICES LLC has $269m U.S. Air Force contract for fiscal 2017 launch vehicle production services in support of Delta IV Heavy rocket.

This week sees the release of the Aerospace Industries Association’s annual year-end review and forecast, to be unveiled Tuesday.

Fulcrum IT Services LLC, Centreville, Virginia, has been awarded a $168,155,289 ceiling cost-plus-award-fee task order.

The U.S. Army is looking for ways to re-engine its General Electric T700-powered Sikorsky UH-60M/Vs and Boeing AH-64E Apaches faster.
Defense

NASA picked Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) for a $127 million contract to build the bus for its planned Restore-L spacecraft-refueling mission.
Defense

By Jen DiMascio
Raytheon CEO Tom Kennedy is adamant that the company’s T-100 offering for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X competition is a must win for the company.
Defense