Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Mark Carreau
NASA has terminated efforts to place its small, propulsively challenged Lunar Flashlight mission spacecraft into a backup orbit around the Earth.
Space

By Tony Osborne
Greece is to refurbish its MBDA Scalp air-launched cruise missiles, which equip the Hellenic Air Force’s fleet of Dassault Mirage 2000-5 and Rafale aircraft.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Tony Osborne
Romania will end operations with its Mikoyan MiG-21 LanceR fleet on May 15, transitioning its fighter fleet to secondhand Lockheed Martin F-16s.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
The UK Royal Air Force is to send trainee pilots to Italy as it attempts to resolve throughput issues with its own training pipeline.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Tony Osborne
The training program is part of a new round of military aid being provided as Kyiv gears up for its counteroffensive against Russia’s invasion.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Guy Norris
Hypersonic test developer Stratolaunch successfully completed a key separation test of its Talon vehicle from the Roc carrier aircraft May 13.
Space

By Mark Carreau
Sergey Prokopyev and Dmetri Petelin deployed and activated a radiator moved from the Rassvet module to Nauka during an April excursion.
Space

By Brian Everstine
The Space Development Agency on May 12 issued a draft solicitation for the first phase of its Tranche 2 Transport Layer.
Space

By Ben Goldstein
The Alice is a clean-sheet battery-electric commuter airplane with a traditional conventional-takeoff-and-landing (CTOL) design.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Tony Osborne
Avio Aero is the Italian propulsion partner on the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP), along with the UK’s Rolls-Royce and Japan’s IHI Corporation.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Thierry Dubois
First flight is scheduled for 2026.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Tony Osborne
The completion of the studies was announced by NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency on May 12.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) released a report May 11 outlining the needs of the industrial base.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Graham Warwick
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has released an updated road map for artificial intelligence (AI) in aviation.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Steve Trimble
Lockheed Martin announced a week after the Kinzhal shoot down that Germany’s PAC-3 MSE/launcher combination remained in operational testing on May 4.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
Germany chose the CH-47F Block II over the Sikorsky CH-53K to replace a fleet of CH-53Gs, offering Boeing’s assembly line in Philadelphia a lifeline.
Multi-Mission Aircraft

By Ben Goldstein
Archer Aviation has announced the rollout of its first Midnight air taxi prototype.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Irene Klotz
A ULA Vulcan-Centaur rocket was rolled out to its launchpad on May 11 for a final series of tests ahead of its debut launch, targeted for this summer.
Commercial Space

By Steve Trimble
DARPA is looking for information from companies that already have radars in orbit or that will be operational by Dec. 31, 2024.
Space

By Tony Osborne
Greek industry is to develop a long-range loitering munition in conjunction with South Africa’s Paramount Industries.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Tony Osborne
Turkish industry appears to be advancing efforts to integrate indigenously developed weaponry on the Sukhoi Su-25.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Ben Goldstein
Swedish aircraft lessor and investment company Rockton has firmed up a letter of intent (LoI) for 40 hybrid-electric ES-30 aircraft from Heart Aerospace.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Sean Broderick
Rolls expects to generate 1,200-1,300 civil shop visits—air transport and business aviation—in 2023, compared to 1,044 in 2022.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
The UK has supplied long-range air-launched cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Graham Warwick
The standards that pilots of these powered-lift aircraft must meet are also expected to be completed by that time, he said.
Advanced Air Mobility