Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

UK startup Aeristech, a developer of high-speed electric motors, has closed a £5.15 million ($7.1 million) funding round.

NASA’s sample return missions to the Moon, Comet Wild 2 and the Sun have proven scientifically game-changing, and agency planners behind the Mars Sample Return believe it will prove of equal value.

SkyNRG is to develop sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facilities in the U.S. and has signed an MOU with Alaska Airlines to increase investment in low-carbon fuels.

Designing an eVTOL vehicle is challenging, and designing one that can be driven on the road as well as flown is more challenging.

South Africa’s Sasol has been producing synthetic jet fuel from coal and natural gas for decades.

ANA’s parent company has completed initial medical drone delivery trials as it works toward establishing a delivery network in Japan.

EASA has issued guidance for drone design verification for medium-risk uses that require authorization from a national aviation authority.

With more than 100 companies vying to enter the nascent advanced air mobility industry, the competition was always going to get bloody sooner or later.

All three C-UAS demonstrated at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, may be considered for a Low Collateral Effects Interceptors (LCEI) program, which the US Air Force will launch later this year.

Startup Xwing has completed the first autonomous gate-to-gate demonstration with a commercial cargo aircraft.

The German Parliament has approved spending for the Eurodrone medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system program, paving the way for a quad-national contract to be signed in the next few weeks.

Joby Aviation plans to deliver two of its electric vertical-lift aircraft to the U.S. Air Force this year for flight testing, to be followed by more in 2022 and potentially 2023 under the Agility Prime program.

The owners of aerospace and defense group Sierra Nevada are creating an independent company to take over the former’s space business, to be called Sierra Space, which will sell to the burgeoning low-Earth-orbit and Moon commercial space markets.

Private space sector jobs reached a nine-year high in 2020, according to new Space Foundation analysis of U.S. government data, with the industry employing 148,000 people, while space-related mergers, buyouts and equity financings totaled $18.2 billion.

EASA has published its final special condition for the certification of electric and hybrid propulsion systems for aircraft.

Lockheed Martin is offering a new line of its LM 400 satellites in response to military plans to develop constellations that have a variety of intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), and target-acquisition capabilities.

Ahead of a draft solicitation for Space Development Agency satellites, the Pentagon wants to ensure the interoperability of the products.

Turkey’s indigenous within-visual-range air-to-air missile, Bozdogan/Merlin has scored its first aerial kill in flight trials.

Poland is buying five surplus Lockheed C-130H airlifters and will develop Lask AB as the main operating location for its future F-35s.

Blue Origin simulated pre- and post-launch passenger operations as its 15th suborbital launch of the New Shepard lifted off on April 14.

The exemplary support the French government has provided to the country’s aerospace industry has proved effective damage control.

Astranis, a startup aiming to provide lower-cost broadband service from geostationary orbit, has announced $250 million in new financing.

Israel Aerospace Industries and Thales team to offer IAI’s Gabriel V anti-ship missile to meet a UK need for an interim anti-ship weapon.

Airbus completes low-speed flight-envelope testing of its VSR700 naval rotary-wing uncrewed air system.

Orbital Sidekick, a San Francisco-based startup aiming to offer satellite-based hyperspectral imaging and data analytics for the energy sector and others, has wrapped up a $16 million series A investment round, as expected.