Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The House Armed Services Committee proposes investing $150 million in space technology development in the chairman’s mark of the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill.

With its interest in reusable rockets growing, Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center agreed to adjust the launch profile so SpaceX could attempt to recover the Falcon 9 first stage on a drone ship.

Some—but perhaps not all—of the U.S. military’s hypersonic weapon prototypes will be ready to enter large-scale production by the second half of the

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) would not support the Pentagon submitting a supplemental funding request to reimburse defense contractors for costs related to the coronavirus.

In an effort to adapt to declining demand for its commercial aircraft amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Airbus is expediting decisions to cut 15,000 positions—around 11% of its entire workforce and the deepest restructuring the company has ever endeavored.

The Pentagon has finalized the U.S. Space Force’s organizational structure for echelons below the headquarters level, and has announced sweeping changes for the space acquisition structure.

DARPA plans to launch a program to fly an X-plane designed around active flow control.

The U.S. Army expected to take delivery on June 30 of the Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS)-V from Sierra Nevada’s upgrade facility in Hagerstown, Maryland.

The second batch, reportedly totaling 20 aircraft, will be used as lead-in fighter trainers.

U.S.-Spanish startup Skydweller Aero is opening offices in Oklahoma as the company pushes its solar-powered medium-altitude pseudo satellite for potential U.S. government requirements.

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

A Republican senator’s proposal in a June 25 amendment to the fiscal 2021 defense authorization bill would allow the U.S. Army to acquire Turkey’s S-400 batteries.

General Atomics has demonstrated the first launch and control of small, air-dropped UAS from an MQ-1C.

The idea of blasting a boost-phase ballistic weapon out of the sky with a high-energy laser mounted on an aircraft has always been ambitious, and it remains so after 20 years of failed attempts.

Mining lunar ice could rein in the cost of future human cislunar space activities as well as expeditions to Mars, according to proponents.

The slackening of air traffic worldwide during the coronavirus pandemic offers time to take stock of what Collins Aerospace calls the Datalink Dilemma—the increasing volume of aircraft communications addressing and reporting system (ACARS) data sent over VHF frequencies.

An acceptance ceremony was held at Airbus’ facility in Getafe, near Madrid, on June 29, ready for its delivery flight to the MMU’s main operating base of Eindhoven, Netherlands, planned for June 30.

Selected U.S. military contracts from the past week.

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

The Brazilian air force on June 27 accepted delivery of the third operational Embraer KC-390 tanker-transport, Air Lieutenant Brigadier Carlos de

In what might be a rare reference to the Lockheed Martin AIM-260 program, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) slipped an authorization into the

The U.S. Defense Department chose not to fund a critical new space-based sensor for hypersonic defense, but lawmakers have stepped in to rescue the

U.S. lawmakers have intervened to stop the Defense Department from ending production of the P-8A until the last two squadrons of Navy Reserve P-3Cs

An attempt by U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) to acquire a new light attack aircraft has met with sharp scrutiny in the program’s first

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo soared over its new home base near Las Cruces, New Mexico, on June 25, completing the second glide flight since relocating from the company’s manufacturing and test hub in Mojave, California.