Northrop Grumman is giving up a legacy contract that supports testing of cluster bomb components after a decision to apply sustainability precepts to the work, leaders of the large defense prime said Jan. 28.
NASA’s efforts to address the threat of mounting orbital space debris are insufficient and need to be augmented, an agency inspector general’s audit says.
All three air chiefs of staff involved in the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) are emphasizing the importance of achieving first flights of the demonstrators by 2026.
The new merger of the two General Dynamics information technology business units into a new Technologies division is raising eyebrows for a potential spinoff someday, particularly as large mergers and acquisitions continue to be announced across the military, space and intelligence services sector.
Aerovel has conducted reliability testing of its Flexrotor vertical-takeoff-and-landing Group 2 unmanned aircraft system for the U.S. Special Operations Command.
Annual revenue reported by the Aeronautics Systems division in 2020 was higher, and, notably, included what Northrop’s filing described only as a “$444 million sale of equipment to a restricted customer.”
Germany is restarting its heavy transport helicopter program and looking to solicit bids for competing platforms through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales process.
Private equity investor Veritas Capital significantly boosted its national security space, defense and intelligence services profile on Jan. 27 as it announced a deal to buy Perspecta for $7.1 billion and merge it into portfolio company Peraton.
Flying Ship is a U.S. startup that plans to modernize the Russian ekranoplan ground-effect vehicle concept and bring unmanned aircraft technology to maritime logistics while avoiding the onerous burden of aerospace regulation.
Greece’s recent order for 18 Dassault Rafale fighters will comprise a mix of six new single and two seaters, while France’s order for 12 new Rafales—replacements for the secondhand ones it is selling to Greece—is imminent.
After an early, productive start to a 7-hr. spacewalk, two NASA astronauts encountered difficulties installing a Ka band antenna outside the International Space Station on Jan. 27.
The burgeoning urban air mobility sector is poised to open up private air travel to unprecedented markets. But benefits will only be maximized if decisions are made now to ensure UAM systems are accessible to the disabled, experts say.
Plans to demonstrate an autonomous aerial firefighting capability with an Erickson S-64 Aircrane heavy-lift helicopter have been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The FAA expects to certify the first of a new generation of advanced or urban air mobility (AAM/UAM) aircraft later in 2021 and says regulations will be in place in time for initial piloted electric vertical-take-off-and-landing (eVTOL) operations to begin as early as 2023.
Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon’s leading contractor by sales, will prove its “culture of cash” for shareholders in the coming years after returning almost $4 billion in dividends and share buybacks in 2020 despite the COVID-19 crisis, tempered F-35 deliveries and slowing space work near term.
