Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

This week the aerospace world has its eyes on the U.K., which hosts the Royal International Air Tattoo July 8-10 at RAF Fairford, leading into next week’s Farnborough Air Show July 11-17. Meanwhile, in Washington the House Science environment subcommittee will review U.S. weather satellite programs Thursday morning with witnesses including Stephen Volz, head of NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Services division, and Ralph Stoffler, director of weather at the U.S. Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations.

Resourcesat 2A will be launched by the powerful XL version of India’s indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle later this summer.

Selected U.S. military contracts for June 27

The Italian air force has begun acceptance testing on a new fleet of maritime patrollers based on the ATR-72 regional airliner.

Avic has begun deliveries of its Y-20 Kunpeng heavy airlifter to the Chinese air force, nine years after the program was launched.

The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is aiming to become the first navy to have a fully unmanned mine-countermeasure force, Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen says.

The company is focusing attention on three key programs: Bombardier’s CSeries airliner, Embraer’s KC-390 airlifter and the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter.

Seven Turkish military personnel have been killed after their Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk crashed in Northern Turkey.

The Royal Jordanian Air Force wants to offload another 15 early model Lockheed Martin F-16s as it moves more toward counterinsurgency platforms like special-mission Air Tractors and AC-295 light gunship.

The Reaper was flying in the skies above Syria when the operator lost control, according to a July 5 statement from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.

With signs emerging earlier this year that all was not going as well as it once did, Raytheon and Thales have divvied up and downsized their defense joint ventures (JVs).

NASA’s Juno probe concluded its five-year trip to Jupiter with a successful orbital insertion around the gas giant planet on July 4.

Mars and the outer Solar System figure prominently in NASA’s decision to extend nine planetary missions for another two years.

Despite its announcement that it will miss a major contractual deadline, Boeing is slowly moving ahead with developmental testing on its KC-46 tanker and is on track to begin production in August, according to the U.S. Air Force.

Ahead of midyear reports to Wall Street by public companies, and on the heels of Britain’s “Brexit” vote to leave the EU, analysts and consultants covering the aerospace and defense (A&D) sectors see a general slowdown in business activity.

Antonov has begun upgrading the engines of its An-124 heavylifters in a bid to reduce noise levels and emissions.

The Singapore armed forces has set up a high-readiness unit, the Army Deployment Force (ADF), to bolster its ability to respond to terrorism and other security challenges.

GE AVIATION has $919m contract and PRATT & WHITNEY has $873m contract under U.S. Air Force Adaptive Engine Transition Program. Companies will built and test multiple complete, flight-weight centerline, 45,000 lb-thrust turbofan adaptive engines. BOEING has $71.6m contract for P-8A Increment 3 Block I capabilities—Link 16, Harpoon II+ Missile, integrated broadcast system receiver and filtering, high frequency radio system improvements, targeting improvements, narrowband satcom—for U.S. Navy and Government of Australia.

Raytheon and Thales have modified their ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) joint venture to focus exclusively on the delivery of NATO Air Command and Control and Theater and Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) systems. The ground-based radars and non-NATO BMD-related air command and control systems currently within the TRS portfolio will transition to their parent companies. The U.S. operations of the former TRS LLC will become a subsidiary or Raytheon Command and Control Solutions, and the former TRS SAS operations in France will become a Thales subsidiary.

In observance of the U.S. Independence Day holiday, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not be publishing an issue on Monday, July 4. The next issue will be dated July 6.

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). July 13—Commercial Aerospace Manufacturing Briefing (CAMB), co-located with the Farnborough International Airshow, Farnborough, U.K. For more information go to www.awin.aviationweek.com/events

The program will create a 45,000-lb.-thrust class engine for sixth-generation Air Force and U.S. Navy fighters as well as, potentially, a re-engining option for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

THALES has £80m ($106m) contract to support British army Watchkeeper UAV. RAYTHEON has $118.5m U.S. Air Force contract for Lot 9 Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammer (MALD-J) vehicles, support equipment. Work complete June 30, 2020. BAE SYSTEMS has $9.5m U.S. Navy cost reimbursement contract for airborne prototype to detect buried mines/improvised explosive devices at altitudes up to 2,000 ft. RUSSIAN HELICOPTERS delivered first two Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters to Serbian ministry of defense June 29.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has entered Jupiter’s magnetosphere as it prepares to go into orbit around the gas giant July 4. “We’ve just crossed the boundary into Jupiter’s home turf,” Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute said in a June 30 NASA announcement.

View the Top 10 Fighter Manufacturer MRO Demand 2016-2025 chart in PDF format.