Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Bradley Perrett, Sean Broderick
SYDNEY and WASHINGTON—The U.S. government may not renew General Electric’s export license to supply CFM Leap-1C engines to Comac—a move that could
Air Transport

By Irene Klotz
SpaceX has signed an agreement with Space Adventures, a Washington-based space travel company, to market a Crew Dragon orbital spaceflight for four privately paying passengers.
Defense

By Maxim Pyadushkin
The Russian military has confirmed the first order for the Forpost-R reconnaissance unmanned aircraft—a significantly redesigned variant of Israel Aerospace Industries’ Searcher.
Defense

By Alan Dron
Spanish technology company Indra is introducing artificial intelligence (AI) to its air traffic control (ATC) remote towers to allow a greater degree of scrutiny of both air and ground movements.
Air Transport

By Steve Trimble
Pratt & Whitney is protesting a U.S. Air Force plan to award a sole-source contract to GE Aviation for F110 engines to power a future fleet of F-15EX fighters.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station successfully grappled Northrop Grumman’s 13th NASA-contracted Cygnus resupply capsule early Feb. 18.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Singapore is to collaborate with Airbus on the development of the A330 Smart Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) in a partnership that will roll out automated aerial refueling capabilities for the aircraft.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Leonardo has retrofitted two Beechcraft King Airs with its Airborne Tactical Observation and Surveillance mission system for maritime patrols.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
BAE Systems has flown the first full-scale prototype of its PHASA-35 solar-powered high-altitude pseudo-satellite unmanned air system in Australia.
Defense

By Irene Klotz
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral AFS with a fifth batch of the company’s Starlink broadband satellites.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
A multi-target air-to-air weapon and gun-armed close-support missile are among new projects DARPA plans to launch in fiscal 2021. New approaches to communicating in contested environments, attacking signals and countering laser weapons are also on the list.
Aerospace

By Mark Carreau
The NASA-contracted Cygnus spacecraft was on course to reach the ISS with Feb. 18 following a successful liftoff from the Wallops Island Flight Facility
Defense

In observance of the President’s Day holiday in the U.S., Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish an issue dated Feb. 18. The next issue

Calendar of upcoming events of interest to the aerospace & defense industry.

By Steve Trimble, Chen Chuanren
Boeing is seeing increased interest from current AH-64D Longbow Apache operators to remanufacture their helicopters to the AH-64E Guardian standard.
Defense

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

NASA has awarded Rocket Lab a $10 million contract to launch the 55-lb. Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation

By Michael Bruno
The budding space tourism company's publicly traded shares jumped more than 21% when investors saw a captive-carry transport flight of VSS Unity to its new commercial headquarters at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
A third attempt to lift off is scheduled for Feb. 15 at 3:21 p.m. EST.
Defense

By Alan Dron
Ireland-based lessor AerCap, reporting $1.15 billion in net income for 2019, said its prospects are fair for 2020, although the continuing Boeing 737 MAX grounding is having an adverse effect on its figures.
Air Transport

By Michael Bruno
With the aerospace manufacturing sector expecting Boeing to restart 737 MAX production as early as next month or April, one widely followed industry consultant said it will take up to two years to clear out the stored inventory of narrowbody aircraft and fuselages.
Air Transport

By Michael Bruno
Satellite-based synthetic-aperture radar services provider Iceye has hired the former Google executive who led development of the Terra Bella Earth imaging constellation as its new U.S. CEO, and the move signals plans to make satellites in the U.S.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return spacecraft encountered trouble with its Canadian-made laser altimeter Feb. 11 as it made a close survey of a possible sample selection site on the asteroid Bennu.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
The Pentagon has identified a problem with the Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion that could cause pilots to lose control when the heavy-lift helicopter transitioned from ground to flight and intends to flight test a fix at the end of the month.
Defense