Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Brian Everstine
Heidi Grant, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency who oversees U.S. military sales abroad, has announced she will step down after 15 months in the job.
AUSA

By Graham Warwick
China’s AutoFlight debuted its planned V1500M electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing air taxi at Airshow China 2021 in Zhuhai at the end of September.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
Fuel-cell developer and green-hydrogen producer Plug Power has announced partnerships with both Airbus and startup Airflow to bring zero-emission hydrogen propulsion to aviation.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Steve Trimble
Leidos is offering the Bombardier Challenger 650 as a fleet replacement or contractor-operator service for the U.S. Army’s RC-12X Guardrail Common Sensor.
AUSA

By Michael Bruno
Commercial airliners have so far claimed immunity to cyberattacks, and Western militaries do not voice much fear that their aircraft, ships and tanks could be taken over by hackers yet. But a veteran-backed startup that offers to cybersecure their platforms’ operational technology has raised $20 million and is looking to grow.
AUSA

By Brian Everstine
Sikorsky is in talks with three more nations about possible sales of the CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift cargo helicopter, following a deal with Israel and the ongoing competition in Germany.
AUSA

By Steve Trimble
A funded effort to deliver a new turboshaft engine for the U.S. Army up to 12 months early has eroded to yield about half to one-fourth of the planned time savings, a GE Aviation official said on Oct. 13.
AUSA

By Tony Osborne
Romania has selected the Polish-made Black Hawk helicopter to fulfill a requirement for a fleet of medium/heavy rotorcraft to be used by the country’s emergency services agency.
AUSA

By Irene Klotz
More than 50 years after portraying the fictional captain of Star Trek’s USS Enterprise, actor William Shatner joined two paying passengers and a Blue Origin vice president for the company’s second crewed flight to suborbital space.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
Advanced versions of NASA’s Space Launch System, the world’s most power rocket, could be used in the long term to carry out a human Mars flyby and dispatch an interstellar probe to study the realm beyond the Solar System, experts say.
Space

By Graham Warwick
The first announced application for EP Systems’ EPiC lithium-ion battery module, the eDA40 is designed for use as an electric circuit trainer.
Emerging Technologies

By Michael Bruno
Liberty Hall Capital Partners sold the Vancouver, Washington-based supplier to Arcline Investment Management, the parties announced late Oct. 12.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Steve Trimble
Further development is on hold for the Advanced Composite Rotor Blade for the Boeing CH-47F Block II Chinook, a company official said Oct. 12.
AUSA

By Steve Trimble
Los Angeles-based startup Exosonic will develop a concept for a purpose-built, supersonic unmanned aircraft system (UAS) under a 15-month, $750,000 U.S. Air Force contract, the company announced Oct. 12.
AUSA

By Irene Klotz
The customer slated to launch on the first flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket now expects to fly in mid-2022.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
Irish cargo airline operator ASL Aviation Holdings plans to convert up to 10 ATR 72s to zero-emission fuel-cell propulsion after signing a letter of intent to be Universal Hydrogen’s (UH2) launch customer in the cargo turboprop market.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Volocopter and logistics company DB Schenker conducted the first public demonstration of the VoloDrone heavy-lift unmanned cargo aircraft at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg on Oct. 12.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Army and Sikorsky are in negotiations on what is expected to be the final multiyear procurement contract for the UH-60 Black Hawk, with an award expected early next year.
AUSA

By Michael Bruno
Almost two-fifths of British and European skilled aviation workers reported moving out of the industry, according to a newly launched industry survey from aviation talent recruitment specialists JMC Recruitment Solutions.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Michael Bruno
Major small-satellite launcher Rocket Lab is making good on plowing some of its new publicly provided cash haul into bolt-on acquisitions.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
The cargo ship transporting the James Webb Space Telescope arrived in French Guiana on Oct. 12, completing a 1,500-mi. journey that sets the stage for the observatory’s launch aboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket on Dec. 18.
Space

By Brian Everstine
The Sikorsky/Boeing Defiant X demonstrator, the team’s entrant for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, has flown to a speed of 247 kt., with the engine showing some limited power left to go faster, the companies said Oct. 12.
AUSA

By Tony Osborne
Airbus has started production of the UK’s new £500 million ($679.5 million) Skynet 6A satellite, which is due for launch in 2025.
Commercial Space

By Tony Osborne
Serbia’s government has said it will soon sign agreements with Airbus to purchase two C295 airlifters and increase its buy of H145 light helicopters.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The Pentagon’s new director of research and engineering wants more money for small businesses to mature technology to avoid the vaunted “valley of death” in acquisition and is proposing new leaders within her office to move faster on developing software and lowering sustainment costs.
AUSA