Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Lockheed Martin F-35s will become more expensive over the next four years, with flyaway prices rising 16-18% depending on the variant.

Latvian airline airBaltic’s training arm has signed a letter of intent with Diamond Aircraft to purchase three eDA40 electric training aircraft.

U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall says the budget plan for maintaining its fleet is “not executable” and needs to be fixed now.

DARPA has awarded Redwire a contract, as part of the agency’s Otter program, to be the prime mission integrator for a very low-Earth orbit spacecraft.

Belgium has ordered the military version of Airbus’ H145 utility helicopter to help modernize the fleets of its military and law enforcement agencies.

The tender moves the 5.8-metric ton Light Combat Helicopter, also known as Prachand, closer to a long-awaited order for full-rate production.

Located at Piedmont Triad International Airport, the facility is sized for an initial rate of 33 aircraft per year.

Northrop Grumman's high-altitude, long-endurance uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) has arrived at the Northern Territory’s RAAF Base Tindal in Australia.

Senators want a U.S. Space Force program executive office to manage the acquisition of satellites that can track both air and ground moving targets from orbit.

RTX is no longer building satellites in the first phase of the U.S. Space Force’s missile-tracking satellite constellation.

The Missile Defense Agency reports it has launched a Hypersonic Testbed to demonstrate a new experimental testing platform.

The next step is to distinguish between GPS jamming and spoofing, which is less common but more challenging to detect.

The Defense Innovation Unit launched a competition on June 14 on the Navy’s behalf, calling for written responses to an urgent request in two weeks.

A flex shaft for the A350’s high lift system has become the most complex 3D-printed metal part to be approved for series production by Airbus and EASA.

NASA and Boeing plan to add at least four days to the ongoing CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test.

The NASA spacewalk outside the International Space Station that was postponed on June 13 has been rescheduled for June 24.

Taiwan’s Air Force is still evaluating aerial tanker options after 2023 visits from U.S. and French military delegations.

Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have been approved to acquire hundreds of Raytheon Amraam missiles to equip combat aircraft and ground-based air defenses.

Intensifying budget pressures are forcing USAF to “take another look” at spending plans for its prized Next Generation Air Dominance fighter, says Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.

News in brief.

Raytheon to provide Landsat Next mission instruments... Apex completes $95m funding round... George Mason to lead NASA Landolt mission...

The U.S. Space Force has selected Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance (ULA), and SpaceX as the three service providers for Phase 3 of the NSSL program.

The private-equity owners of Belcan, an engineering services provider to several marquee aerospace and defense companies, have sold the company to Cognizant.

Autonomous pilot developer Merlin has acquired EpiSys Science, a multidomain autonomy developer, and plans to unite the software solutions of each company.

The beginning of June marked Boeing’s first delivery of an operational F-15EX to the U.S. Air National Guard.