Under a Space Act Agreement with NASA, space company Virgin Galactic is to develop a training program for private astronaut missions to the International Space Station.
Startup Space Perspective is looking to early 2021 to begin test flights of a high-altitude balloon with a pressurized capsule from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), with an eye toward carrying commercial passengers and research payloads.
Frustrated by declining funding for advanced technology programs, a key U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee hinted on June 21 that control of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) could be stripped from the Pentagon’s Research and Engineering (R&E) branch led by Undersecretary Michael Griffin.
Japan is considering installing at least one Aegis system on a pontoon, following the decision on June 15 to halt a program to build two batteries on shore, the Jiji news agency reports.
House lawmakers take issue with future reductions in procurement of the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, which they say would leave the U.S. Navy more than one carrier air wing short of its requirements, and have instructed the Pentagon to keep buying the twin-engine fighters.
A House panel would allow the U.S. Air Force to keep fewer B-1 bombers in its inventory and slowly divest the mobility fleet as the KC-46A comes online.
A panel of U.S. lawmakers is seeking to add several new strings to the U.S. Air Force’s authorization for moving forward with the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) and to block retirements of several aircraft that now perform the mission.
The U.S. Navy has concluded that a combination of aircraft, flight gear and human conditions caused a spike in physiological events on T-45 and F/A-18 aircraft in 2017 that persuaded flight instructors to boycott their duty to train student pilots.
Startup SkyDrive has confirmed plans for a public flight demonstration this summer of Japan’s first manned electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicle.
Chinese scientists have taken a large step toward a theoretically secure communication technology, demonstrating quantum key distribution (QKD) between ground stations via a satellite.
The winnowing of the defense industrial base may have worried government leaders before the COVID-19 outbreak, but it has one major benefit now: the lower tiers of defense suppliers are proving stronger, according to a new report from a major credit rating agency.
Lockheed Martin’s new CEO is looking to bring more high-technology and telecommunications innovations to the Pentagon’s leading contractor, including more artificial intelligence and 5G efforts, as well as exploring networked solutions for government customers.
The U.S. Navy has determined the problem with the electromagnetic aircraft launch system that forced the USS Gerald R. Ford to return to port first appeared in the power handling system, but an investigation is still ongoing to determine the cause.
