Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Since announcing its first commercial satellite export sale in recent memory in May with a contract for two commercial communications satellites for fleet operator Arabsat, Lockheed Martin is now exploring the potential for a joint venture with Saudi Arabia.

Operations on the International Space Station can continue for now without major upset in the wake of Sunday’s failure of a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying a Dragon capsule crammed with supplies and equipment, but the program will have to make significant adjustments to accommodate the loss.

With the loss of the SpaceX Falcon9/Dragon resupply mission, the U.S. is temporarily without the means to launch astronauts or cargo to the International Space Station.

Falcon 9 launch failure raises near-term questions about supplies for space station crew and could complicate SpaceX's push to launch national security payloads.

REPUBLIC OF GHANA ordered five A-29 Super Tucano light attack/trainers. DISCOVERY AIR DEFENSE SERVICES was selected by German air force to supply A-4 Skyhawks for Eurofighter training in Italy. BOEING delivered 28th and final C-17 aircrew training simulator to U.S. Air Force. KELLSTROM DEFENSE AEROSPACE was appointed by Arkwin Industries as a distributor for its C-130, F-16 components.

REPUBLIC OF GHANA ordered five A-29 Super Tucano light attack/trainers. DISCOVERY AIR DEFENSE SERVICES was selected by German air force to supply A-4 Skyhawks for Eurofighter training in Italy. BOEING delivered 28th and final C-17 aircrew training simulator to U.S. Air Force. KELLSTROM DEFENSE AEROSPACE was appointed by Arkwin Industries as a distributor for its C-130, F-16 components.

To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) July 7-9—Fourth International Space Station Research and Development Conference, Boston Marriott Copley Place, Boston, Massachusetts. For more information go to www.issconference.org/

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) wants to focus on replacing the hydrocarbon-fueled Russian rocket engine used to launch most U.S. national security spacecraft, but the companies and military officials who can make that happen let him know Friday it won’t be that simple.

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Aviation failed to effectively manage government-owned V-22 Osprey spare parts, the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) says in a recent report.

An invention that uses light to transmit data may allow the U.S. Navy to increase the security of classified systems, service officials say.

Development of revolutionary engines at GE Aviation is setting the stage for the next 50 years in military aircraft propulsion, engineers there believe.

Raytheon's AGM-154 JSOW C-1 has begun operational testing with the U.S. Navy on F/A-18 Super Hornet and is expected to be fielded to the fleet in 2016.

During the NATO operation over Libya in 2011, European nations were criticized for a lack of aerial refueling assets and their need to depend on the U.S. for assistance. But plans for multinational tanker purchases may soon reverse that trend.

The Kamov Ka-52 coaxial attack helicopter that was one of the Russian stars at the Paris air show in 2013 has got a naval variant.

A spate of Proton launch mishaps has created a de facto duopoly of Arianespace and SpaceX, two companies vying to dominate the global commercial launch market.

Russian Helicopters continues to develop a high-speed helicopter concept, deputy CEO, production, Andrey Shibitov tells Aviation Week.

Boeing and Saab leaders could not sound happier about their joint work on the T-X trainer project, although the new design itself stays under wraps.

“The workshop is really about narrowing down where on Mars would satisfy human requirements,” Jim Green, the agency’s planetary-science director, told reporters. “Mars is an enormous place."

South Korea has launched full-scale development of the LCH-LAH civil and military helicopter, signing contracts with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) that value the program at 1.6 trillion won ($1.44 billion) in non-recurring costs.

OneWeb Ltd. has signed contracts with European launch consortium Arianespace and Virgin Galactic to deploy a constellation of more than 600 low-orbiting Internet satellites.

The NASA administrator says "somebody pulled the rug out from under" the agency's aeronautics budget.

Rather than depending on large and expensive programs that provide “standing capability,” the report says the U.K. needs to develop a research and industrial base that is able to respond rapidly to the specific demands presented by different campaigns as they arise.

Saudi Arabia is buying 23 H145 twin-engine light helicopters as part of a government-to-government industrial agreement with France.

Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) installed the command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) suite aboard the afloat forward staging base variant of the mobile landing platform (MLP 3) USNS Lewis B. Puller following recently completed acceptance trials.

While some in Congress, the military and certainly analytical circles continue to question the vulnerability, survivability and relevance of carrier strike groups in so-called anti-access, area denial (A2/AD) waters such as those off the mainland China coast, a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report notes the U.S. Navy has operated and survived in such well-protected regions before.