Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

LONDON—Airtanker, the company that operates and supports the U.K. Royal Air Force’s (RAF) fleet of Airbus A330 Voyager aerial refueling aircraft, is

NEW DELHI—India’s ambition to indigenously manufacture more helicopters is gathering steam, with the government seeking local vendors to provide

The U.S. Navy’s DDG 53 USS John Paul Jones executed a series of five live-fire guided missile destroyer tests for the Aegis Baseline 9 Combat System

2nd AIRBUS A400M for U.K. Royal Air Force made first flight in Seville, Spain, Oct. 23. RAF’s "Atlas" fleet to be based at RAF Brize Norton. GENERAL

LOS ANGELES—The NTSB-led investigation team probing the cause of the Oct. 31 crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo says 2 sec. before the vehicle

The U.S. space industry is still reeling from last week’s loss of an Orbital Sciences Antares/Cygnus unmanned resupply spacecraft bound for the space

Metals provider Alcoa on Nov. 3 unveiled a $190 million upgrade to its Davenport Works, Iowa, facility, with expansion geared toward furthering the

NASA wants the Accident Investigation Board (AIB) set up by Orbital Sciences Corp. to find and fix the root cause of the Antares launch failure that

NASA wants the Accident Investigation Board (AIB) set up by Orbital Sciences Corp. to find and fix the root cause of the Antares launch failure that

A key credit-rating analyst covering the Western aerospace and defense industry says the eighth low-rate initial production (LRIP 8) contract for the

LONDON—Alenia Aermacchi is studying the introduction of winglets onto the C-27J airlifter to improve the type’s aerodynamic performanc Flight trials

HOUSTON— Based on declining fuel supply estimates, NASA is targeting April for the end of its groundbreaking joint Tropical Rainfall Measurement

U.S. and Republic of Korea (ROK) naval forces focused on countermine operations throughout October during the Clear Horizon exercise. “Our navies

The U.S. and the Republic of Korea (ROK) outlined their continued and expanding joint commitment to regional defense—especially against North Korea—in

Selected U.S. defense contracts for Oct. 27, 2014 U.S. AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, has been awarded

AIRBUS DEFENCE AND SPACE and TATA ADVANCED SYSTEMS teamed to offer the C295 to Indian air force to replace 56 Avro RJ aircraft used for medium transport missions; first 16 would be delivered in flyaway condition with remaining 40 built in India. MACDONALD, DETTWILER AND ASSOCIATES has A$40m contract amendement to provide RAAF with UAV operations and related services in Australia through end of 2017; deal follows company’s completion of currently contracted services in Afghanistan.

LOS ANGELES — Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) crashed in the Mojave Desert after experiencing an in-flight “anomaly” during the first test of a new hybrid rocket motor at Mojave, California, on Oct 31. Reports so far indicate that one of the two test pilots on board survived after bailing out of the suborbital spacecraft, which was making its fourth powered flight. The other pilot did not survive the crash.

In nearly identical affirmations last week, Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services and Moody’s Investors Service assigned “A” and “A2” ratings, respectively, to Boeing’s upcoming $850 million debt issuance. The rating agencies gave high-ranking credit scores to Boeing’s unsecured notes despite a newly forecast softening in so-called free cash flow, which could pinch near-term returns to shareholders and investors.

Within the next three months, all 19 F-35 test jets will incorporate a fix to avoid a recurrence of the excessive friction in the third-stage integrally bladed rotor (IBR) that prompted a June fire in a Pratt & Whitney F135 engine in June, says U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, F-35 program executive officer.

The U.S. Navy has completed the production readiness review of the Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC), U.S. Naval Sea Command (Navsea) officials confirmed earlier this month. The review, along with the previously completed critical design review, provide for a smooth transition to the start of production for the first craft (craft 100) in mid-November, Navsea officials say. The SSC will serve as the evolutionary replacement for the existing fleet of Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) vehicles, which are nearing the end of their service life, officials say.

The Pentagon will back a plan to sell F-35s to international customers through a foreign “block buy,” F-35 Program Executive Officer USAF Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan says.

The U.S. Navy awarded Bechtel Plant Machinery a combined total of about $807.4 million in two deals earlier this month — a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract and a similarly constructed contract modification — for naval nuclear propulsion components as the service gears up for submarine and aircraft carrier construction programs. The awards are for $612.8 million and $206.7 million in fiscal 2015 U.S. Navy funds. No completion date or additional information is provided on Naval Nuclear Propulsion program contracts.

By the end of 2014, a NATO Boeing E-3 Sentry will have flown with the first comprehensive flight-deck upgrade since the type began full production in 1976. Engineering and development have gone forward under the joint U.S. Air Force/NATO Diminishing Manufacturing Sources Replacement of Avionics for Global Operations and Navigation (Dragon) program.

BEIJING — The commercial viability of China’s forthcoming medium-heavy space launcher, the Long March 7, looks doubtful in the face of competition from Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). SpaceX sees its keenest competition for low Earth orbit (LEO) launch services coming from China. But it looks like CASC, the Chinese government’s main space industrial group, cannot match the prices of SpaceX with the Long March 7, which is in the class of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and, according to a 2013 schedule, due to fly this year.

NASA technology has helped the U.S. Navy develop unmanned small boats the service says it can use to “swarm” enemy forces.