Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Brian Everstine
Costs for USAF and Boeing’s plan to upgrade the radars on B-52 bombers have spiked to the level where it has prompted a mandatory review of the program.
Aircraft & Propulsion

Aviation Week Staff
News in brief.
Aerospace_Daily_departments

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force expects its extended KC-46 delivery drought to end soon, with the delivery process to begin next week.
Budget, Policy & Operations

Aviation Week Staff
BELL 412EPX approved for Canadian operations... NORTHROP gets H-1 mission computer award... ICEYE expands in Spain...
Aerospace_Daily_departments

By Garrett Reim
Interlune has won two contracts to sell thousands of liters of helium-3 excavated from the Moon’s surface and to deliver the rare gas to Earth.
Commercial Space

By Matthew Fulco
The U.S. defense sector overcame economic and political turmoil in the first 100 days of the second Donald Trump administration.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Graham Warwick
German uncrewed aircraft manufacturer Quantum Systems has secured €160 million ($181 million) in new funding.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
To Congress, U.S. Army leaders defended a recent proposal to retire about half the Boeing AH-64 Apache fleet and buy more drones in place of helicopters.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Ben Goldstein
Manufacture of the full-scale prototype of French startup Ascendance’s hybrid eVTOL continues to progress.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Robert Wall
The growing threat to space systems is driving a demand for greater resilience, argues the Luftwaffe’s head of space command.
Satellites

By Tony Osborne
India appears to have suffered the first confirmed combat loss of a Dassault Rafale following airstrikes against targets in Pakistan.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Kurt Hofmann
An Israeli airstrike on Yemen’s capital Sanaa International Airport has damaged nearly half of Yemenia’s Airbus fleet.
Airports & Networks

By Irene Klotz
An early indication of NASA’s response to the Trump administration’s fiscal 2026 budget is expected later this spring.
Budget, Policy & Regulation

By Robert Wall
Italy is considering joining Germany in introducing electronic attack versions of the Eurofighter Typhoon, Lt. Gen. Luca Goretti says.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Robert Wall
Hensoldt sees growing demand in Europe opening new business prospects that could lead it to achieving 2030 sales 20% ahead of earlier projections.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Tony Osborne
China’s Air Force has completed a series of military drills in Egypt, ending one of the largest deployments of Chinese aircraft outside Asia.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Tony Osborne
Leonardo has established a new aeronautics division, consolidating the company’s fixed-wing crewed aircraft, aerostructures and UAS work under one roof.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Chen Chuanren
India has carried out missile strikes on nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites in Pakistan in response to the April 24 terrorist attack in Kashmir.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Robert Wall
The U.S. Space Force says it has completed a critical propulsion test of the Oracle-M space situational awareness system.
Launch Vehicles & Propulsion

By Mark Carreau
Humanity has entered a second space age, NASA’s now-retired first chief economist says.
Space Exploration

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the space layer of the proposed Golden Dome will cost $160 billion to $542 billion to field and operate.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Matthew Fulco
TransDigm reported mostly brisk second-quarter fiscal year sales on May 6.
Supply Chain

By Garrett Reim
BlackSky Technology says it has successfully completed commissioning of its first Gen-3 satellite capable of capturing 35-cm resolution imagery.
Satellites

By Brian Everstine
The top U.S. Air Force officer says delivery is now expected in late 2026 of an overhauled remote vision system for the KC-46.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Garrett Reim
AeroVironment has unveiled the Red Dragon, a second-generation loitering munition with a more than 400 km (249 mi.) one-way range.
Missile Defense & Weapons