Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Irene Klotz
The Biden administration on June 17 announced its intention to fly an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station.
Space

By Tony Osborne
The Italian Army has declared the new AW249 Fenice attack helicopter a pillar of its transformation, following its public debut at the Eurosatory defense show.
Light Attack and Advanced Training

By Irene Klotz
Lockheed Martin will build up to seven spacecraft for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Extended Observations program.
Space

News in brief.
Aerospace_Daily_departments

Quantum Systems to provide Romania with UAS... U.S. Army buying drones from Hoverfly Technologies... Progeny Systems to modernize Virginia Class subs...
Aerospace_Daily_departments

By Garrett Reim
SkyDrive has applied to the FAA for a type certificate for its SD-05 electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) air taxi.
Advanced Air Mobility

Sudanese Air Force faces conundrum.
AWIN Knowledge Center

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force did not back up its proposal to retire older Block 20 F-22s sufficiently, the Government Accountability Office argues in a new report.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force is close to an agreement with Boeing on the E-7A Wedgetail program, after cost disagreements derailed the program for months.
Multi-Mission Aircraft

By Matthew Fulco
Bombardier has its mojo back. The company is consistently profitable, with strong demand for its business jets.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Robert Wall
Kongsberg has begun marketing a mobile version of Nasams, which has enjoyed strong demand in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Chen Chuanren
Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. and U.S. uncrewed systems company AEVEX have signed a memorandum geared toward the manufacturing of UAS.
Multi-Mission Aircraft

By Kim Minseok
South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development and Korea Aerospace Industries are in early studies for an electronic-attack variant of the twin-seat KF-21.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
Airbus Helicopters has begun flight testing of a new configuration of the NH90 battlefield transport helicopter developed for France's special forces.
Multi-Mission Aircraft

By Tony Osborne
French developer Survey Copter is looking to bring its CAPA-X vertical-takeoff-and-landing, fixed-wing uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) to market by the end of 2025.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Irene Klotz
Rocket Lab will provide 10 Electron launches to deploy an Earth observation network for Japan’s Synspective, which is building an SAR constellation.
Commercial Space

By Vivienne Machi
The Space Force has awarded contracts to Blue Origin, CACI International, General Atomics and Viasat to develop space laser-communication terminal prototypes.
Space

By Tony Osborne
France’s Defense Ministry has formed a pact with the country’s drone industry in a bid to establish sovereign capabilities in sub-150-kg UAS and payloads.
Light Attack and Advanced Training

By Irene Klotz
SpaceX is sidelining a Falcon 9 rocket for additional inspections following a rare launch abort at engine ignition.
Space

By Steve Trimble
Lockheed Martin replaced Paul Lemmo as Sikorsky top executive, promoting Richard Benton from a division of Missiles and Fire Control Rotary and Mission Systems.
Aircraft & Propulsion

Boeing passed up bidding on a planned commercial variant of NASA’s Space Launch System Moon rocket for the U.S. Space Force’s NSSL Phase 3 program.
Space

By Tony Osborne
European missile manufacturer MBDA has paired advanced anti-armor missiles with uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), enabling targets to be struck beyond line of sight.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
Lockheed Martin F-35s will become more expensive over the next four years, with flyaway prices rising 16-18% depending on the variant.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Graham Warwick
Latvian airline airBaltic’s training arm has signed a letter of intent with Diamond Aircraft to purchase three eDA40 electric training aircraft.
Maintenance & Training

By Brian Everstine
U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall says the budget plan for maintaining its fleet is “not executable” and needs to be fixed now.
Budget, Policy & Operations