Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Jen DiMascio
The U.S. Space Development Agency is looking for a company to launch an initial set of 28 communications and missile tracking satellites to low Earth orbit beginning in September 2022.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Lee Hudson
After losing to Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems for the U.S. Space Development Agency’s inaugural transport layer contract award, L3Harris Technologies realized it must alter its strategy to win.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
The new generation anti-radiation missile successfully hit a radiating target on Wheeler Island after being launched from a Sukhoi Su-30 MKI.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Bill Carey
Irrational, “fear-based” concerns over drone safety and security are stifling the use of the technology in the U.S. after the initial progress that was made in 2016, leading drone manufacturer DJI says.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Graham Warwick
Major parts for the Racer, a high-speed compound helicopter demonstrator being developed under Europe’s Clean Sky 2 research program, have begun arriving at Airbus Helicopters for assembly.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
Proposed sales of both the F/A-18 Super Hornet and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Finland have been given a green light by the U.S. State Department.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Mark Carreau
NASA is allocating $19.3 million for 21 studies on the physical and psychological issues astronauts will face as the agency prepares to return to the Moon’s surface in 2024 and advance to Mars in the 2030s.
Space

By Samuel Archer
Vietnam Military Aviation
AWIN Knowledge Center

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

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.
Defense

By Guy Norris
As NASA continues feasibility studies into nuclear propulsion for deep space missions, DARPA has awarded an initial contract to help pave the way toward possible orbital tests of a nuclear-powered rocket for U.S. military use in and around cislunar space.
Space

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Marine Corps and Sikorsky are close to an agreement for six CH-53K Lot 4 helicopters and may seal the deal by the end of the month.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
A Russian-funded program to develop technologies for a low-boom supersonic passenger aircraft has kicked off with a virtual meeting of the research consortium in late September led by the project’s coordinator, the TsAGI aerohydrodynamic research institute.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Faster delivery of fresh fruit from grower to consumer is the promise of a test program unveiled by California-based produce company Giumarra and autonomous aircraft startup Reliable Robotics.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
Multiple Air Launched Effects vehicles were recovered in flight by an octorotor during the Project Convergence 20 demonstration.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Lee Hudson
The Pentagon has distributed its first-ever data strategy, which is integral for the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept that will link military equipment across the future battlefield.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Mark Carreau
There are several intriguing scientific findings among a half-dozen research efforts published just ahead of the NASA Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return mission’s scheduled Oct. 20 touchdown on Bennu.
Space

By Craig Caffrey
For more information about the 2020 Forecast and other Aviation Week data products, please see: http://pages.aviationweek.com/Forecasts
AWIN Knowledge Center

By Tony Osborne
France has begun retiring the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker as it modernizes its aerial refueling capacity around the Airbus A330 Phenix Multi-Role Tanker Transport.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
NATO is to start engaging with industry in early 2021 as European members begin to mull their medium-rotorcraft needs for the 2040s.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Graham Warwick
HAPSMobile has announced the first stratospheric flight of its AeroVironment-developed Sunglider high-altitude pseudo-satellite, the fifth test flight of the solar-powered long-endurance unmanned aircraft.
Advanced Air Mobility

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.
Defense

Already on a tight schedule to deliver community-acceptance data to regulators, NASA has revealed that COVID-19 challenges have pushed the first
Defense

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. Air Force had already run Kubernetes in ground-based aircraft tests, but the Sept. 22 flight aboard a U-2S marked a new landmark in advanced software applications for military aircraft.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Bradley Perrett
An electronic-intelligence aircraft converted from a Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) C-2 airlifter prototype moved to a tactics development unit on Oct. 1, bringing new but undisclosed signals-interception capabilities closer to operation for Japan.
Aircraft & Propulsion