Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Michael Bruno
Supplier TransDigm Group continues to evaluate and seek merger and acquisition (M&A) targets, the company’s leader said Nov. 19.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The British government looks set to give a green light to the sale of defense company Cobham to U.S. private equity firm Advent.
Defense

By Thierry Dubois
Inmarsat is gearing up for the Nov. 22 launch of its GX5 satellite, planned to bring a major capacity increase to serve commercial and business aircraft flying in Europe and the Middle East.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
When the UN arms embargo on Iran expires in October 2020, the nation will look to purchase fighter aircraft and battle tanks from China and Russia, a U.S. senior defense intelligence official says.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Belgium-based imec and its spinoff miDiagnostics are collaborating to develop a device that can acquire and transmit to ground-based medical experts blood counts and blood cell imagery gathered from astronauts on the International Space Station or future deep space missions.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
Japan Marine United (JMU) has prepared a preliminary design for an air-capable assault ship that Japan could order in the 2020s.
Defense

By Thierry Dubois
OHB is proceeding with its plan to design and operate a launcher for placing satellites up to 440 lb. in low Earth orbit.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
Boeing is in the final stages of testing the Multi-Mission Pod (MMP) for P-8A export customers that want to add other intelligence-gathering sensors, including a ground surveillance radar, to the surface vessel- and submarine-hunting aircraft, an executive said Nov. 19.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
Kawasaki Heavy Industries has developed two turbojets in anticipation of defense ministry requirements for single-use reconnaissance, jamming or target drones.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
Lockheed Martin has offered the C-130J to NATO as a maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), a company official said Nov. 18.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
As the KC-390 gets a new name and a new owner, a marketing battle with Lockheed Martin’s C-130 is intensifying over the future market of commercial derivatives of military airlifters.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
In a surprise announcement on the third day of the Dubai Airshow, UAE defense officials confirmed they were in final negotiations with Saab for an additional two GlobalEyes.
Dubai Airshow

By Irene Klotz
NASA has cleared five more companies to bid for upcoming lunar payload flight service contracts, including SpaceX, which is offering its Mars-class reusable Starship vehicle.
Defense

By Jen DiMascio
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Nov. 18 sustained a protest by Blue Origin of the U.S. Air Force’s National Security Space Launch procurement.
Defense

By Maksim Pyadushkin
Russia’s new Orion MALE (Medium Altitude, Long Endurance) unmanned aircraft crashed during flight trials near Ryazan on Nov. 16.
Defense

By Irene Klotz, Mark Carreau
Mechanical damage to a sensor allowed pressurizing gas to activate and separate the stages of a Russian Soyuz launch vehicle in October 2018, resulting in the first Soyuz launch abort in 35 years.
Space

By Bradley Perrett
Subaru expects to have production facilities for the Bell 412EPX helicopter ready before April 2021 for a licensed manufacturing program underpinned by a Japanese army requirement.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Russian Helicopters is to build its new VRT500 single-engine light helicopter in Italy.

By Bradley Perrett
The Japanese government is promoting technological cooperation between local industry and Boeing in aircraft electrification and high-rate composites manufacturing, aiming at expanding the country’s traditionally limited roles in aircraft manufacturing.

By Guy Norris
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) plans to develop and demonstrate a range of new tactical capabilities for its family of unmanned air vehicles as part of an ongoing initiative to align more closely to the U.S. Defense Department’s shift to a near-peer National Defense Strategy.
Defense

By Bill Carey
U.S. House lawmakers in a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) derided an “irresponsible proposal” to have federal air marshals operate counter-drone systems near airports.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
Lockheed Martin is trying to shorten the delivery time for Japan’s two Aegis Ashore systems in response to the government’s desire for as quick a program as possible, a company representative said.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
An Emirati and South African joint venture building precision guidance kits for dumb bombs is working on a range extension program to be able to reach targets well in excess of 120 km (75 mi.).
Defense

By Steve Trimble
Russia’s defense industry expects to finalize at least $2.5 billion in new arms export sales by the end of the year, Rostec chief executive officer Sergei Chemezov said at the Dubai Air Show.

Heat shields for hypersonic vehicles are usually thick, heavy and hard to manufacture, but researchers have demonstrated thin and flexible thermal protection using carbon nanotubes.