Releasing pictures online of potential radar sites in the South China Sea could strengthen China’s operational strength there, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says.
China’s continued weapons buildup on artificial island features could give the country much greater control of the South China Sea and its trading lanes, says Adm. Harry Harris, the Pacific Commander for the U.S.
With the amount it spends on service contracts, lawmakers should look at requiring more Defense Department reporting for those transactions, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says in a recent report.
House Republicans got scant support Feb. 25 for the details of their going-in plan to avoid a repeat of the space-policy upset that followed President Barack Obama’s decision to kill the Constellation family of deep-space human-exploration vehicles, but won endorsement for the basic idea from a pair of NASA veterans who lived through it.
With his U.S. record-setting 340-day mission to the International Space Station drawing to a close, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly can rest assured his next assignment is to reacclimate to life on Earth.
Iridium Communications Inc. has nixed plans to launch its first two Iridium NEXT satellites on a Russian Dnepr rocket in April, opting instead to lift a batch of 10 new-generation spacecraft atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 in July.
Australia is widening its options for sustaining its wing of strike aircraft into the 2030s to include unmanned systems, with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting no longer considered the default choice.
Australia will employ an additional 1,700 people in intelligence, cyber and related fields as it strives to maintain what it calls decision-making superiority over possible adversaries.
Australia has increased its planned force of Boeing P-8 Poseidons from eight to 15 as a part of a policy of bolstering its maritime power that also includes a commitment to 12 submarines, a figure that was previously in doubt.
Australia will prepare for a capability in missile defense by upgrading surveillance and command systems as a basis for the possible acquisition of interceptor systems.
With its definition of small UAVs covering weights up to a fairly hefty 55 lb., and under pressure to treat lighter or “micro” UAVs differently, the FAA has chartered an aviation rulemaking committee (ARC) to recommend how such vehicles should be regulated.
Delays in development of Safran’s Silvercrest engine cost the company a one-time €654 million ($720 million) charge last year, helping drive operating profit for 2015 down more than 12% to €1.7 billion.
LOCKHEED MARTIN has $45.5m U.S. Air Force contract for support to increase F-22 flight hours. Work to be performed at Fort Worth, complete by Dec. 31, 2016. GENERAL DYNAMICS’ AN/PRC-155 MUOS-Manpack Radio and MUOS Communications Network Connect were validated by U.S. Army for use in Pacific theater. LOCKHEED MARTIN has contract for two new TPS-77 radars for Romania.
The U.S. Air Force is accounting for part of known delays and cost overruns for its GPS III next-generation operational control segment, known as OCX. In its fiscal 2017 budget request, the service has requested $393 million, an increase of $171 million. Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall next month will make his “quarterly deep dive” of the program, after which it will be formally rebaselined and the budget for fiscal years beyond 2017 will be worked out, according to Maj. Gen. Roger Teague, the director of Air Force space program acquisitions.
Italian air accident investigators have successfully extracted data from the combined flight data and cockpit voice recorder recovered from the wreckage of the second prototype AgustaWestland AW609 commercial tiltrotor.
An investigative team using social media and open-source intelligence has identified Russian military personnel potentially connected with the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014.
Airbus Defense and Space is hoping to deliver more than 20 A400M airlifters this year, but significant risks remain in the delivery of both the aircraft and its military capabilities.
Completion of a joint venture between the launch vehicle divisions of Airbus Defense and Space and Safran S.A. is being held up by regulatory approvals that, if delayed beyond April, could threaten the entry into service of Europe’s next-generation Ariane 6.
