Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The U.S. Senate has passed legislation aimed at marshaling federal efforts to promote the advanced air mobility industry.

For decades, the U.S. Air Force relied on its workhorse fleet of MQ-1 Predators to track and identify targets and attribute events on the ground.

A UK consortium led by Embraer company Eve UAM has completed a concept of operations for urban air mobility in London that identifies the near-term challenges and actions required to enable electric air taxi service.

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission promises some real drama as it zeros in on its target later this year.

The missile flew east toward Japan, but splashed down short of the northern tip of the island of Honshu, South Korean military leaders reported.

Airbus Helicopters has begun testing the autonomous takeoff and landing capabilities of its VSR700 rotary-wing unmanned aircraft system.

Switzerland plans to have as many as 28 of its Lockheed Martin F-35s built in Italy, becoming the third customer to build the Joint Strike Fighter in Europe.

The UK’s Cranfield Aerospace Solutions has secured £10.5 million ($13.8 million) in investment from HydrogenOne Capital Growth and Safran to develop hydrogen fuel-cell electric propulsion for aviation.

NATO leaders have pledged to increase materiel support to Ukraine and further strengthen the alliance’s presence in Eastern Europe.

Startup Dark Fission Space Systems announced plans on March 22 to build and demonstrate a nuclear thermal rocket engine in orbit within five years.

Japanese commercial UAV company Terra Drone has raised $70 million in Series B venture capital from local investors and will apply the funds toward a drone air traffic management service.

The COVID-19 pandemic may be abating, but for suppliers such as Canada’s Magellan Aerospace the effects continue to hit home.

A Canadian satellite recently came “dangerously close” to another nation’s satellite, a Canadian Space Agency official says.

NASA plans to extend its Human Landing System contract with SpaceX to cover a second crewed landing on the Moon and launch a parallel procurement leading to a second commercial provider for crewed transportation services to and from lunar orbit and the lunar surface.

Maintenance and upgrades were the focus of a nearly 7-hr. spacewalk conducted by two astronauts outside the International Space Station on March 23.

A spokesman for Turkey’s government on March 23 called proposal for sending the NATO country’s S-400 systems to Ukraine “quite unrealistic today.”

Propulsion startup Ursa Major on March 23 announced the delivery of its Handley engine to two separate customers for two different uses.

Forty GOP members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee called for a 5% increase in the Pentagon’s budget in a March 23 letter to President Joe Biden, while the Democratic leader of the Senate panel is urging some patience and to wait for a new strategy.

An internal incident report posted on a popular social media site for airmen attributed the accident to a collapse of the left main landing gear. The pilot is in good condition.

Volocopter has taken another step toward its goal of operating a commercial electric air taxi service during the 2024 Paris Olympics by conducting a series of test flights in France to measure its aircraft’s acoustic signature.

General Electric has delivered the first engine to test the T901 turboshaft, marking a key milestone nine months behind schedule for a critical propulsion system in the U.S. Army’s aviation modernization plans.

Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor is looking at adding electric air taxis to its lineup of compact cars and motorcycles and targeting markets such as India through a partnership with Tokyo-based startup SkyDrive.

UK vertiport development and drone delivery startup Skyports has raised $23 million in the first close of its Series B funding round.

NASA has not given up on the idea of creating artificial gravity for astronauts on long-duration space missions despite the many technical challenges associated with it, according to the agency’s space operations chief.

Viasat is still working to restore internet to some of its users after a suspected Russian cyberattack took thousands of KA-SAT satellite terminals in Europe offline starting Feb. 24.