Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Michael Bruno
Amazon said Nov. 1 it will launch the KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 prototype satellites for its low Earth orbit-based broadband offering via two ABL Space Systems RS1 rockets from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in a year.
Commercial Space

The UK defense ministry has put out an urgent call to industry for an adversary air service to support the Royal Air Force’s air combat aircraft.
Light Attack and Advanced Training

By Brian Everstine
Boeing delivered the first KC-46A refueling tanker to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force on Oct. 28, marking the first international delivery for the program.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Barely a month after completing a $100 million series A fundraising round, Chinese startup Autoflight has flown a prototype of its V1500M three/four-passenger electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing air taxi.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Mark Carreau
Launched late Oct. 27 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan atop a Soyuz 2a.1 rocket, the MS-18 freighter—designated Progress 79 by NASA—docked to the ISS on Oct. 29 at 9:31 p.m. EDT.
Space

By Mark Carreau
The planned SpaceX Crew-3 Dragon launch of four U.S. and European astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed to early Nov. 3 from Oct. 31 due to predicted rough winds and sea conditions along the flight corridor off the U.S. East Coast.
Space

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force on Oct. 29 selected GE Aviation to power the F-15EX fleet with the award of an almost $1.6 billion contact.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs on Oct. 28 conducted the second successful test of the First Stage Solid Rocket Motor, which will power the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike and the U.S. Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
An extended legal battle over the fate of a major electronic warfare program will continue after the U.S. Navy defied an official recommendation and reaffirmed a disputed contract award to L3Harris for the Next Generation Jammer-Low Band pod.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Tony Osborne
The Swedish government has given a green light for the country’s armed forces to order Saab’s GlobalEye airborne-early-warning platform.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Mark Carreau
NASA and Russian’s space agency are about a year away from implementing a flight crew swap agreement, Kathy Lueders, the agency’s associate administrator for space operations, told an Oct. 29 Crew-3 preflight news briefing.
Space

By Brian Everstine
The Pentagon’s approach to stop the threat of counter-small UAS has been bogged down in Defense Department bureaucracy and laws that approach the problem in the wrong way, while commercial drone developers have outpaced the military’s efforts, the No. 2 uniformed official said.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Graham Warwick
Swedish Space Corp. has partnered with Bradford Space to offer a commercial orbital-debris-removal service beginning in 2024.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
The U.S. Air Force has established a detachment to develop training methods and standards for electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Michael Bruno
Small-satellite startup Terran Orbital, backed by Lockheed Martin and others, plans to become a publicly traded company after a reverse merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, the companies announced late Oct. 28.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
The Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, an operator of air and sea links to the archipelago off the coast of southwest England, has forged an agreement to bring zero-emission hydrogen flights to the islands.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Mark Carreau
As NASA’s Commercial Crew initiative matures, it is accelerating the turnaround of timely science experiments and technology development related to the future human exploration of the Moon and Mars, researchers say.
Space

By Michael Bruno
Small-satellite startup Terran Orbital, backed by Lockheed Martin and others, plans to become a publicly traded company after a reverse merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, the companies announced late Oct. 28.
Space

Conferences and events for professionals in the aerospace & defense community.
Defense

By Brian Everstine
The Space Development Agency has rescinded its request for proposals for the Tranche 1 Transport Layer and reissued the solicitation on Oct. 28 under Other Transaction Authorities in an attempt to avoid a perception that the competition was limited.
Space

By Brian Everstine
Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Gen. John Hyten is expected to sign off this week on the latest Joint Requirements Oversight Council “strategic directive” on integrated air and missile defense, outlining capability gaps that the services need to fill for their future forces.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Brian Everstine
As the Pentagon’s No. 2 military officer prepares to retire next month following decades of service, including leading key strategic and space commands, Gen. John Hyten’s biggest regret is how vulnerable the nation’s defense satellite system is to attack.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Maksim Pyadushkin
Roscosmos’ commercial arm, Glavkosmos, has made its first direct sales for tourist flights on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
A Northrop Grumman census is now tracking 164 small-satellite launch programs, although 46 of the projects are effectively defunct and the status of nine others is unknown.
Commercial Space

By Chen Chuanren
A video of a twin-seat variant of the Chengdu J-20 “Mighty Dragon” stealth fighter has emerged on the internet, suggesting China has developed the world’s first
Aircraft & Propulsion