Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

View the Fleet Snapshot: Indian Air Force Fixed-Wing Aircraft chart in PDF format.

The White House has at last approved proposed sales of Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-15E Strike Eagle to two Persian Gulf states.
Defense

NASA is contemplating more long-duration visits to the International Space Station, including some by women, to collect data for eventual human missions to Mars.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Training systems for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which the aerospace giant plans to use to launch International Space Station crews, are coming together at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Defense

SCHIEBEL and DIEHL DEFENSE renewed teaming agreement to market Camcopter S-100 VTOL UAV to Germany military.

This week the 67th International Astronautical Congress is underway in Guadelajara, Mexico.

Selected U.S. military contracts for Sept. 19, 2016 U.S. NAVY L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC , Madison, Mississippi, is being awarded $166

SpaceX is spending “10s of millions” of company funds on an ambitious architecture to fulfill founder Elon Musk’s dream of setting up a self-sustaining human “civilization” on Mars.
Space

By Mark Carreau
University of Michigan professor Thomas Zurbuchen will join NASA as associate administrator for science.
Defense

As fifth-generation aircraft like the F-35 begin to come online, bringing with them advanced sensors and data fusion capability, the U.S. Air Force is struggling to build a battlefield communications network that will allow fighter jets of different generations to share a common picture.
Defense

By Jay Menon
India is working toward building an SCE-200 semi-cryogenic liquid oxygen/kerosene engine to power advanced mega space launchers aimed at significantly lowering the cost of its space missions.
Defense

By Guy Norris
The FAA is studying with other government agencies and the U.S. Strategic Command the potential launch of a “pilot program” to take over aspects of space traffic management duties which have been performed solely by the military since the start of the Space Age.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
The future for unmanned systems may be in connecting the different domains of air, land and sea, Blackwing maker AeroVironment says.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return mission spacecraft has successfully concluded a week-long checkout of a half dozen primary science and navigational instruments.
Defense

By Maksim Pyadushkin
Russia’s new Ilyushin Il-112V light transport is expected to make its first flight in July 2017, according to the program’s suppliers.
Defense

The vice administrator of the China National Space Administration said the relay spacecraft designed to communicate with the planned Chang’e 4 lander on the Moon’s far side would also be available to international users operating there.
Space

U.S. NAVY’s MQ-4C Triton UAV received DOD milestone C approval Sept. 22. DRS NETWORK AND IMAGING SYSTEMS has $339.3m U.S. Army contract for Joint Effects Targeting System. Work to be complete Sept. 21, 2021. RAYTHEON declared quarterly cash dividend of $0.7325 per outstanding share of common stock, payable on Nov. 10 to shareholders of record as of close of business Oct. 5. NEW MEXICO SPACEPORT AUTHORITY Board of Directors selected Daniel Hicks as new chief executive officer of SPACEPORT AMERICA, NM.

Pentagon acquisition czar Frank Kendall says another field office for outreach to the technology sector will open later this year like the offices already opened in Silicon Valley and Boston. Speaking at the ComDef 2016 conference in Washington earlier this month, Kendall listed the new office, another Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIU(X)) branch, as one of his last task items this year before the Obama administration ends and he may—or may not—leave office with it. He did not say where the new office will open.

By Mark Carreau
Observations of Jupiter’s intriguing ice- and ocean-covered moon Europa made with the Hubble Space Telescope offer the first visual evidence for geyser-like plumes of salty water erupting 125 mi. into space.
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.) Sept. 27-29—International Powered Lift Conference (IPLC). For more information go to www.vtol.org/events/international-powered-lift-conference-iplc

By Graham Warwick
JP Aerospace has launched the latest subscale prototype in its Airship to Orbit project to provide affordable access to space using lighter-than-air vehicles.
Defense

The U.S. Air Force has completed safety inspections on four ground surveillance aircraft—almost 25% of the fleet—and the jets have returned to flight, the service says.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
The Airbus Perlan Mission II team has wrapped up its first season of flights in Argentina en route to attempting to set a glider altitude record of 90,000 ft. in the stratospheric Perlan 2.
Defense

The new commander of U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command won't take his “foot off the gas” when it comes to laser weapon development for an AC-130J Block 60 gunship.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
British ejection seat manufacturer Martin-Baker will face prosecution from the U.K. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) over the fatal inadvertent ejection of a member of the Red Arrows aerobatic team.
Defense