Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Chen Chuanren
The airshow's organizers say attendance by overseas visitors, which may be difficult depending on COVID-related border restrictions, is not critical to the success of this year's event.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
The distinctive, 100-kg (220-lb.) UAS100 has been designed to carry up to 10 kg with a radius of action of 100 km (62 mi.) and perform surveillance of critical infrastructure.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Space Force may begin testing early-warning satellites in medium-Earth orbit as early as 2022, which aligns with comments made by a service official last week who said the Force Design team will assess the theory of putting missile-warning satellites into non-traditional orbits.
Space

By Graham Warwick
Existing aeronautical standards are not adequate for certifying artificial intelligence (AI) with safety-critical systems, and new means of compliance will have to be developed, concludes a report jointly issued by standards developers SAE International and Eurocae.
Emerging Technologies

By Lee Hudson
The Pentagon has terminated the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud contract with Microsoft because the effort no longer meets requirements, and instead is launching a new multi-vendor program called the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Chen Chuanren
Former President Benigno Aquino III was responsible for reviving the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Act in 2012, to bring the its air force back into the supersonic age after over a decade of neglect.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
As it prepares to list on the New York Stock Exchange, on-demand private aviation provider Wheels Up has detailed its vision for expanding into the electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing market.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Steve Trimble
As with the two previous renderings, the U.S. Air Force’s latest release offers only a partial glimpse of the stealth bomber’s final configuration, obscuring nearly as much as it reveals.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Mark Carreau
NASA is moving ahead with efforts to engage the U.S. private sector in a competition to develop and provide sustained commercial Lunar Exploration Transportation Services.
Commercial Space

By Tony Osborne
Lockheed Martin has suggested 70-80 F-35s might be enough to fulfill the UK carriers’ air-power needs.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Mark Carreau
Until the July 5 decision to postpone the undocking, the Cargo Dragon was to depart the ISS on July 6 at about 11 a.m. EDT with a 5,000-lb. return cargo for a parachute-assisted descent into the Atlantic Ocean on July 8 at 12 a.m. EDT.
Space

By Tony Osborne
Israel has formed a third F-35 squadron, to focus on training aircrews for the fifth-generation fighter.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Chen Chuanren
Japan is on track to launch the probe in fiscal 2024 and collect samples from Martian moon Phobos, returning to Earth by 2029.
Space

By Chen Chuanren
Astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo completed the first extravehicular activity (EVA) outside the Tianhe core module, marking China’s first spacewalk since the Shenzhou-7 mission in 2008.
Space

By Thierry Dubois
Dassault Aviation has created a joint research laboratory in partnership with two French academic institutions dubbed Moliere, an acronym of the French for “innovative functional materials for aviation.”
Emerging Technologies

By Chen Chuanren
At least 47 military personnel have been killed after a Philippine Air Force Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules crashed while attempting to land at an airfield on an island in the south of the country on July 4.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
The Paraguayan Air Force plans to start operating the new aircraft for humanitarian missions in the second half of this year.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Lee Hudson
CAE has concluded its previously announced $1.05 billion acquisition of L3Harris Technologies’ Military Training business, doubling its military training business in the U.S.
Light Attack and Advanced Training

By Graham Warwick
Australian startup Swoop Aero has completed a study in Mozambique that demonstrated the feasibility of using drones for the cold-chain transport of infectious tuberculosis and COVID-19 laboratory samples.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
On-demand drone delivery provider Zipline has secured an additional $250 million in funding.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Graham Warwick
For unmanned cargo aircraft to operate effectively within a future express logistics system, what happens on the ground is as important as what happens in the air.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Tony Osborne
Work on the £3.5 million ($4.8 million) Co-operative Strike Weapons Technology Demonstrator (CSWTD) will be led by the UK Defense Science Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and supported by missile manufacturer MBDA.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Mark Carreau
The docking of the Progress MS-17 cargo capsule to the Poisk module was a first, Progress freighters having previously docked at the Russian segment's Pirs module, which was disabled earlier this year.
Space

By Irene Klotz
If schedules hold, Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson will fly nine days ahead of fellow billionaire entrepreneur and space buff Jeff Bezos, founder and funder of Blue Origin.
Space

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Space Force will unveil its first-ever Force Design this year that will allow the service to compete optimally against China and Russia.
Missile Defense & Weapons