Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force is looking for budget help to address a shortage in its test capacity for hypersonic weapons as it prioritizes what programs can have access to limited infrastructure such as wind tunnels and reaches out to NASA for help.
Program Management

By Irene Klotz
The payload fairing separation problem that scuttled Astra’s first commercial mission has been traced to an error in an engineering drawing that led to the fairing’s five separation mechanisms firing out of order.
Space

By Steve Trimble
The Demigorgon and Gambit have been revealed as the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s two choices for the autonomous flying demonstrator that will follow Skyborg.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force HH-60W combat rescue helicopter will start initial operational test and evaluation within weeks, as the final stages of engineering and manufacturing development test are wrapping up, the service and Sikorsky said.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
European technology company MARSS has developed a reusable hard kill capability for use against adversary unmanned air systems (UAS).
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
A scale model of the Samoom platform was unveiled by Intra on the opening day of the World Defense Show on March 6 here in Riyadh.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
BAE Systems will collaborate with Slovenian light aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel to examine potential military training applications for electric aircraft.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
Middle Eastern nations need to increase levels of defense research and development (R&D) if they want to achieve their goals of developing more domestic capability, a think tank has warned.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Garrett Reim
Maxar has generated a 3D video of a 40-mi.-long Russian military convoy stalled on a road north of Kyiv using its WorldView-3 satellite.
Space

By Mark Carreau
Artemis I, NASA’s approaching test flight of the Space Launch System rocket and uncrewed Orion capsule around the Moon and back to Earth, could be paving the way for more than human deep-space exploration.
Space

By Mark Carreau
Artemis I, NASA’s approaching test flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and uncrewed Orion capsule around the Moon and back to Earth, could be paving the way for more than human deep-space exploration if the world’s most powerful rocket lives up to expectations that include launching more than astronauts.
Space

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force HH-60W combat rescue helicopter will start initial operational test and evaluation within weeks, as the final stages of engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) test are wrapping up, the service and Sikorsky said.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force expects to take delivery of its first Boeing MH-139 test aircraft in May as it moves toward receiving its last required FAA certification, after a yearlong production delay due to airworthiness concerns.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force is looking to move quickly on the possible purchase of Boeing’s E-7A Wedgetail by sending test officials to the UK and working with Australia on their programs to meet required test points before a buy is decided.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Michael Bruno
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine can significantly alter mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Western aerospace and defense (A&D), several seasoned experts said recently at separate events, including Aviation Week’s Raw Materials and Commercial Aviation Supplier conferences.
Aircraft & Propulsion

Aviation Week Staff
Russian State Space Corp. Roscosmos formally canceled the launch of 36 OneWeb satellites aboard the Soyuz 2.1b rocket that had been slated to lift off on March 4 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Space

By Graham Warwick
Volocopter has received a first tranche of $170 million in Series E financing, with additional investment in the pipeline as the German electric vertical takeoff and landing startup works toward launching urban air taxi service in 2024.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Steve Trimble
Satellites detected GPS interference on the border between Ukraine and Belarus shortly before Russia invaded on Feb. 24, according to data released on March 4 by commercial space company HawkEye 360.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Thierry Dubois
Further requests from Airbus are delaying the signing of a contract for the demonstration phase of the Future Combat Air System, according to Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Garrett Reim
The U.S. Space Force’s plan to replace its Space Based Infrared System of satellites took another step forward as prime contractors Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman selected payload providers for their next-generation satellites on March 1.
Space

By Thierry Dubois
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is forcing the French ministry of armed forces to rethink some plans, from a satellite launch to the use of large military transports.
Space

By Guy Norris
Long-running U.S. interest in the potential application of pressure-gain combustion to high-speed propulsion is stepping up to a new level with the award of a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory contract to Pratt & Whitney for a rotating-detonating engine demonstrator.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall is confident one of his key priorities—the development of a UAS that will fly along with an advanced fighter—is realistic in the near term based on multiple efforts in the U.S. and Australia.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. military on March 1 established a deconfliction line with the Russian Ministry of Defense aimed at avoiding incidents in the airspace over Eastern Europe amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Maxim Pyadushkin, Irene Klotz
Russia will stop supplying RD-181 engines, which are used on Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket, to the U.S. in retaliation for economic sanctions imposed in response to the conflict in Ukraine.
Space