Europe’s Vega light launcher has scored its first U.S. customer with a contract to launch a tranche of small, high-resolution remote-sensing satellites under Google’s Skybox Imaging initiative.
Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work is pushing initiatives to conduct more wargames and demonstrations to better use military technology fielded today, and make more informed decisions on what technology to pursue in the future.
Over the past year, the overall size of the Pentagon’s major defense acquisition program portfolio decreased, from 80 programs to 78, while the estimated cost has decreased by $7.6 billion, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says.
Company president Gwynne Shotwell says she expects the U.S. Air Force to certify the Falcon 9 by midyear, “if not sooner,” to fly midsized national security payloads.
The head of missile manufacturer MBDA, Antoine Bouvier, says the apparent failure of its Brimstone weapon to find a home in the U.S. arsenal begs questions about the accessibility of the U.S. market to foreign manufacturers.
GKN Aerospace has partnered with Swedish firm Arcam to work on industrializing the electron beam melting (EBM) method of additive manufacturing for its potential use in the production of aerospace components.
Satellite Internet startup LeoSat has contracted with manufacturer Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy to conduct a one-year cost study of the company’s planned low Earth orbiting (LEO) constellation of high-throughput broadband satellites.
NEW DELHI—India’s state-run space agency has proposed launching 10 satellites annually starting this year, setting an ambitious goal toward expanding the country’s space exploration program. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is currently launching four or five satellites every year. Most of them are for domestic use. The “idea is to develop our space program” with the annual launching of at least 10 satellites, says S.K. Shivakumar, director of the ISRO Satellite Center in Bengaluru in south India.
The space industry features prominently in events on Capitol Hill this week. Tuesday afternoon the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) hosts a panel of witnesses from United Launch Alliance, SpaceX and the U.S. Air Force to discuss so-called assured access to space — i.e., maintaining uninterrupted U.S. national security launch capability — while downtown at the D.C. convention center the satellite industry converges for the Satellite 2015 symposium, which lasts through Thursday. Meanwhile, on Tuesday morning the HASC hosts a panel of U.S.
Selected U.S. military contracts for March 9, 2015. U.S. NAVY ERAPSCO, Columbia City, Indiana, is being awarded a $20,427,800 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00421-14-D-0025) to exercise an option for the procurement of up to 5,000 AN/SSQ-125 sonobuoys. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
DASSAULT AVIATION had €398m net income on €3.7b sales in 2014 vs. €487m on €4.6b in 2013; it delivered 11 Rafales vs. 11 in 2013, and plans to deliver eight in 2015. THYSSENKRUPP AEROSPACE, Germany, opened 3,300-sq.-meter raw materials service center in Bangalore, India. LMI AEROSPACE, St. Louis, had $29m net loss on $387.8m revenues in 2014 vs. $58.5m loss on $412.6m in 2013.
Engineers here at Edwards AFB have begun flying a software patch on two test jets to explore the effectiveness of upgrades designed to improve the “fusion” of the threat picture among multi-aircraft F-35 formations.
An appeal to NATO nations to supply intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) along NATO’s eastern flank has so far fallen on deaf ears, according to the deputy commander of the alliance’s Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) fleet.
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has chosen the Airbus H155 as the basis for LCH-LAH civil and military helicopter, adding South Korean production of more than 200 units to a program that the European manufacturer is replacing.
Two Korea Aerospace Industries KT-1 trainer aircraft of the Indonesian air force crashed after colliding during practice for the Malaysian air show on March 15.
U.S. Navy and Republic of Korea (ROK) navy ships concluded the maritime portion earlier this month of Foal Eagle, which is meant to help their naval forces work better together.
Built for Paris-based Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) of Bermuda, the electric propulsion spacecraft need eight months to reach their final orbit, creating a lag between their March 1 launch and their ability to generate revenue.
The likely spending focus of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard in the coming years is revealed in “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower: Forward, Engaged, Ready,” released earlier this month.
India’s state-run space agency has proposed launching 10 satellites annually starting this year, setting an ambitious goal toward expanding the country’s space exploration program.
