GE and PRATT & WHITNEY each have $105m U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory contracts to mature technologies toward system-level preliminary design reviews and compatibility reviews for Adaptive Engine Research Design program.
This Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee will mark up its version of the Commerce, Justice, Science bill for fiscal 2016 that funds NASA at $18.5 billion for the year and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at $5.2 billion. Meanwhile, on Tuesday in Washington the Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts a discussion on missile defense and U.S. national security featuring Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The 18-month DeSIRE II demonstration is being conducted by an industrial consortium led by led by Italian satellite firm Telespazio and aims to support the European standardization and regulatory activities surrounding the satellite communications-based command and control of UAVs, as EU regulators examine the requirements to allow the platforms in the same airspace as other traffic.
The changes have reflected internal disagreements about the vehicle’s mission and the extent of stealth technology to be incorporated into the platform.
ST. LOUIS—Boeing conducted four flight tests under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) Triple Target Terminator (T3) program, Boeing Phantom Works President Darryl Davis said here May 18. The test vehicles, about the size of an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (Amraam), flew “faster and farther” than an Amraam, Davis said, but he did not provide any other details.
The June launch of Inmarsat’s third Global Xpress Ka-band communications satellite has been delayed, following a mishap involving Russia’s Proton M/Briz M launch vehicle.
NASA on May 18 issued a request for information (RFI) on a single spacecraft that could be used for the planned Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) and a notional robotic-servicing mission.
After a failed attempt two days earlier, thrusters on the Russian Progress 58 re-supply capsule docked to the International Space Station (ISS) fired for just over 32 min. on May 17, successfully raising the altitude of the six-person orbiting-science laboratory.
With certification under its belt, the company is able to proceed with the initial deliveries of the first two aircraft to the German air force later this year.
Airbus deployed a single Caracal, destined for the Brazilian navy, to Powidz, Poland, on May 14 to begin trials to check that the performance of the aircraft lives up to the promises made by the company in its tender.
NASA’s Space Launch System program manager says the main risk to the heavy rocket's scheduled November 2018 debut is an installation problem encountered by crews at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
The recent test shots, known as “no-loads” because no aircraft or other loads were attached to the launching shuttle, successfully demonstrated the integrated catapult system, which is designed to launch all current and future planned carrier aircraft.
As a first step, the U.S. Air Force will be pushing for a more-open systems architecture in Block 4, the first post-service-entry upgrade for the F-35.
The Pentagon will select a contractor for the $80 billion Long-Range Strike Bomber program in “one to two months,” according to William LaPlante, U.S. Air Force assistant secretary for acquisition.
The service is looking at technology that can extend the range of its torpedoes, now at about 10 nm, to about 200 nm, says Vice Adm. Michael Connor, commander of U.S. Submarine Forces and Allied Submarine Command.
Where HAV’s hybrid airship is heavier than air, for ease of handling on the ground, and uses a combination of aerodynamic, buoyant and propulsive lift to take off, Aeros’s Aeroscraft rigid airship can take off and land vertically using a “control of static heaviness” (COSH) system to vary buoyancy while keeping hull volume constant.
The 40,000-ton Vikrant, meaning “bold” or “courageous,” will be undocked at the state-owned Cochin shipyard in southern state of Kerala on May 28 following completion of some pending structural work, a yard official says.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee that funds NASA marked up and approved an $18.5 billion fiscal 2016 spending bill for the agency May 14 that boosts exploration, but slightly cuts science funding as compared to 2015-enacted levels.
Avic’s preliminary development of technology for a short-takeoff-vertical-landing (Stovl) fighter, discussed by state media this week, probably means that the Chinese military has some interest in operating such an aircraft but does not necessarily mean it has a concrete plan to do so.
A leading contender in the Google Lunar X Prize competition has signed an agreement to land laser-reflecting arrays on the surface of the Moon, continuing experiments placed on the lunar surface by Apollo astronauts.
The House Science, Space and Technology Committee has approved the Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship Act, or SPACE Act, of 2015.
