Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

FARNBOROUGH — From retrofitting aftermarket sales of fighters to exploiting gaps in military acquisition planning, Exelis is upgrading electronic

LONDON — The U.K. Royal Navy has formally declared its newly upgraded Merlin Mk. 2 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters to be in service, and is

An Orbital Sciences Corp. Cygnus cargo carrier will remain berthed to the International Space Station (ISS) for as long as 45 days, after station crew

FARNBOROUGH — Airbus Defense & Space expects its Zephyr high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) remotely piloted airplane to break the world endurance

LONDON — Thales has developed a ready-for-market precision-guided bomb based on its Lightweight Multi-role Missile (LMM) designed for use on small

/site-files/aviationweek.com/files/uploads/2014/07/asd_07_17_2014_dod7.pdf

FARNBOROUGH — After more than two weeks of espousing daily hope that four Lockheed Martin F-35Bs would make a historic debut in the U.K., the Pentagon

New space companies will take a prominent role in the first phase of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) XS-1 experimental

UCAV ACCORD: The French and U.K. defense ministries signed a two-year agreement at the Farnborough air show July 15 to conduct a cooperative

LONDON — The U.S. Air Force is requesting $100 million to add a launch to its fiscal 2014 program, as well as additional funding for seed money to look at new launch alternatives. This launch is for the 20th Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP-20) spacecraft, and would be in addition to a National Reconnaissance Office mission for which the Air Force issued a draft request for proposals June 4. The funding was included in the $4.3 billion fiscal 2014 omnibus reprogramming request recently sent to Congress.

Japan is considering boosting its order for Lockheed Martin F-35s beyond the 42 units it decided to buy in 2011, eyeing the type as a replacement for

FARNBOROUGH — It has been more than a decade in the making, but now the Eurofighter nations are one small step closer to having an active

FARNBOROUGH — Lockheed Martin says it will open a new space technology office in the U.K. this year to explore partnership opportunities with British

FARNBOROUGH — Lockheed Martin says it will open a new space technology office in the U.K. this year to explore partnership opportunities with British

LONDON — BAE Systems says it is negotiating with the U.K. defense ministry on the potential of a third round of test flights for its Taranis unmanned

FARNBOROUGH — Engineers at European missile manufacturer MBDA have been studying systems of command and control that would give wider access to

Growing congressional support and tantalizing scientific possibilities are behind a NASA plan to spend $25 million on instrument development for an

LONDON — The Hungarian defense ministry is planning to issue a tender for a fleet of new helicopters later this year for its air arm. The country has

/site-files/aviationweek.com/files/uploads/2014/07/asd_07_16_2014_crs8.pdf

FARNBOROUGH — The U.K. is claiming a to be ahead of the U.S. in work to integrate its fifth-generation F-35 to be interoperable with other military

RAF FAIRFORD — The U.S. Air Force’s plans for a forthcoming program to buy a communications system to connect fifth-generation fighters to their

AH-6i FLIES: On May 1, Boeing started test flying the first production AH-6i light-attack/reconnaissance helicopter as it prepares to begin deliveries

RAF FAIRFORD — Completion of initial operational test and evaluation and the subsequent full-rate production decision for the U.S. Navy’s RQ-21A

Japan’s ATD-X fighter technology demonstrator is undergoing ground tests following roll-out of the aircraft by airframe builder Mitsubishi Heavy

FARNBOROUGH — The blade rubbing that prompted a fire in an F-35A and led to a fleedwide grounding took place in the third-stage fan of the integrally