Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The Pentagon appears to have reached peak spending and will have to determine how to meet its strategic objectives through redistribution and reprioritization

While the U.S. remains the world’s paramount military power, its defense industrial base has significant shortcomings compared to China’s.

Spirit AeroSystems will build and test a large, experimental wing to support high-speed aircraft applications under a new DARPA program.

NASA must establish a more integrated, top-down management approach to its supercomputing assets, an agency IG report says.

A company-led test at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah in September demonstrated the armed, propeller-driven Altius-700M striking a tracked armored vehicle.

China’s usually reliable Long March fleet suffered a launch hiccup when a Long March 2C failed to put two lunar navigation test satellites into orbit.

France has become the world’s second-largest arms exporter after sales by Russia plummeted in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The filing with the ITU, a U.N. agency that manages global use of radio-frequency spectrum and sat orbits, is a prerequisite to building the constellation.

Swiss commanders have outlined plans to retire the Northrop F-5 Tiger combat aircraft in 2027, bringing to an end its famous international aerobatic team, the Patrouille Suisse.

Japanese lawmakers will revise the country’s arms export restrictions, a key step to enable the export of the trilateral GCAP.

Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani says he foresees “big opportunities” in the company’s renewed relationship with U.S. manufacturer Bell over tiltrotor technology.

News in brief.

TERRAN ORBITAL announces new satellite bus... MISSION MICROWAVE acquired... LEONARDO UK joins Nadcap supply chain program...

The venerable C-130’s cargo capacity, lower speed threshold and commonality across the region make it ideal for relief operations over the Gaza Strip.

Lilium has announced a partnership with leading FBO chain Atlantic Aviation to build out infrastructure to accommodate its eVTOL vehicle across the U.S.

Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane has been inducted into the NASA Armstrong In-Space Propulsion facility in Ohio in readiness for thermal vacuum testing.

Terran Orbital has unveiled a new small geosynchronous orbit communications satellite product.

UK startup Vertical Aerospace said it expects its second full-scale VX4 eVTOL vehicle prototype to be completed in “the coming weeks.”

The UK defense ministry has finalized a deal with Boeing to buy 14 MH-47G Chinook helicopters after having deferred the purchase for three years.

Sierra Space has unveiled a series of advanced autonomous, satellite and reentry products developed by Axelerator, its newly launched innovations incubator arm.

Denmark is to acquire new ground-based air defense systems and create an anti-submarine warfare capability as part of a buildup of the country’s armed forces.

The U.S. has approved Poland’s purchase of more than 800 air-launched cruise missiles as part of a buildup of the country’s weapons stocks.

Embraer and Singapore’s ST Engineering say they will expand their collaboration in defense beyond the service and engineering of the C-390 transport aircraft.

SpaceX's Starship completed a full-duration ascent burn and was able to run through a series of engineering demonstrations as it coasted above Earth.

News in brief.