Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Tony Osborne
Portugal’s EEA Aircraft and Maintenance is selecting suppliers for the country’s first indigenously produced aircraft, naming Akaer as structures supplier.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Chen Chuanren
Australia has shortlisted the Lockheed Martin PrSM and the Kongsberg NSM to form the country’s second long-range fires regiment.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Robert Wall
The test firing of the MBDA Meteor took place in Lossiemouth, Scotland, to take advantage of the available airspace over the Atlantic, the Luftwaffe said.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Robert Wall
Arianespace on Dec. 4 returned the Vega-C rocket to flight after a more than two-year hiatus following a mission failure in 2022.
Operations & Safety

By Robert Wall
The agency suspects maneuvering spacecraft could open the door to other science missions, including ones linked to Mars sample return missions.
Space Exploration

By Mark Carreau
NASA again has pushed back anticipated launch dates for the Artemis II and Artemis III crewed lunar missions in light of Orion crew capsule heat-shield damage.
Space Exploration

By Steve Trimble
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has signed a classified strategy document designed to unify the military’s efforts to counter uncrewed systems.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Graham Warwick
Bell has completed wind-tunnel testing of its proposed X-plane for a DARPA project to demonstrate a high-speed vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.
Emerging Technologies

By Tony Osborne
The first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for a former Warsaw Pact country has made its initial flight.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. Air Force will postpone decisions about the future of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program until beyond year-end.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
Nigeria’s Air Force will receive 12 ex-French Air Force Alpha Jet trainers as part of its growth in capacity to deal with Islamic extremism.
Light Attack and Advanced Training

By Mark Carreau
A new decadal survey of future solar and space physics research calls for an increased focus on the Sun and its interactions across the Solar System.
Space Exploration

By Tony Osborne
The UK Royal Air Force has begun kitting out the new fleet of Boeing MH-47G Block II Chinooks it has on order.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Robert Wall
The European Union (EU) should take a “big bang” approach to meeting defense capability needs, says Andrius Kubilius, the bloc’s Defense and Space commissioner.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Garrett Reim
Eve Air Mobility and Helicopters Inc. have signed a letter of intent for up to 50 electric-vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Ben Goldstein
French startup Ascendance Flight Technologies says it is on track to make a first flight with a piloted, prototype of its Atea eVTOL aircraft in mid-2025.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Brian Everstine
President-elect Donald Trump’s push to select relative outsiders for top Pentagon positions continues with his selection of Daniel Driscoll to lead the Army as its top civilian.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Robert Wall
Airbus says the bulk of the head-count reduction it disclosed in October will hit its space segment, with over half of the 2,043 positions being eliminated.
Budget, Policy & Regulation

By Vivienne Machi
President-Elect Donald Trump has nominated billionaire Jared Isaacman, a commander of two SpaceX commercial space flights, to be the next NASA administrator.
Operations & Safety

By Graham Warwick
Joby Aviation has ticked two more boxes on its journey toward launching commercial electric air taxi service in the U.S.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Tony Osborne
UK satellite launch startup Orbex will shift operations to the Shetland Islands’ SaxaVord Spaceport and mothball construction of mainland Scotland facilities.
Commercial Space

By Steve Trimble
Embraer and the Brazilian Air Force have agreed to deepen studies of a surveillance variant of the C-390 to focus on maritime patrol, the company said Dec. 3.
Multi-Mission Aircraft

By Tony Osborne
An F-35 has off-boarded data to a non-U.S. command and control system for the first time in testing by Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works and the UK Royal Air Force.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Robert Wall
The European Space Agency has delayed the launch of the Proba-3 mission to examine a possible fault with one of its two satellites.
Satellites

By Robert Wall
The German Air Force and Army have agreed to create a joint helicopter brigade to bolster the country’s ability to meet NATO operational demands.
Budget, Policy & Operations