Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Under the deal, Boeing’s HorizonX capital investment arm will inject $20 million into Virgin Galactic in exchange for new shares.

Boeing and Virgin Galactic will work together to develop commercial space access and high-speed exo-atmospheric transport systems under a strategic alliance announced on Oct. 8.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) for the near-term should apply existing interceptor missiles to shoot down hypersonic glide vehicles and avoid investing in a purpose-built, glide-phase interceptor until the technology matures, a Raytheon executive says.

It is high time the French and German governments launched the demonstrator phase of their joint Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program, Airbus Defense and Space CEO Dirk Hoke and Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier said in an Oct. 7 joint statement.

Helicopter operator Bristow Group says it has reached agreements with bankruptcy courts to emerge from Chapter 11 by the end of October.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) announced Oct. 7 that its MQ-9B SkyGuardian remotely piloted aircraft will fly above San Diego to survey infrastructure next year during flight tests the company is organizing with NASA.

Airbus says it has successfully performed the dispatch of 80 paratroopers in a single pass using the side doors of its A400M airlifter.

Avic is planning to develop a series of four successively larger pilotless cargo aircraft, an official of the state company said at a conference.

The UK defense ministry says it is considering a purchase of BAE Systems’ Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System (APKWS) II to equip the UK’s future fleet of AH-64E Apache attack helicopters.

NASA astronauts on Oct. 6 successfully initiated a month-long spacewalk campaign to replace batteries on the International Space Station’s nearly 360-ft.-long solar power truss.

LOCKHEED MARTIN has $164m U.S. Air Force contract for Space Based Infrared System contractor logistics support.

Boeing and Embraer on Oct. 3 formally acknowledged that they do not expect their commercial aircraft joint venture deal to close until “early 2020.”

View the Fleet Snapshot: French Air Force 2019-2029 chart in PDF format.

Raytheon’s next-generation GPS ground control system, GPS OCX, has completed development and entered the system integration and test phase on track to meet its delivery deadline of June 2021

GENERAL ATOMICS has $12.3m U.S. Navy contract for repair work and technical assistance for Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch Systems (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG).

The campaign, which also is to include the first all-female spacewalk, likely will extend into December.

Collins Aerospace has been selected to deliver up to 3,018 ACES 5 ejection seats over the next decade to replace the escape systems in five different combat aircraft fleets, the U.S. Air Force announced on Oct 2.

Boeing has moved into forward-flight testing of its unmanned Cargo Air Vehicle (CAV) and completed more than 90 flights since beginning outdoor testing in early May.

Leonardo Helicopters has partnered with Italian special vehicle company Olmedo to further its work on developing more capable emergency medical service capabilities on its helicopters.

The parallel developments of Ariane 6’s components and launch facilities are progressing on time for a first launch in the second half of next year, according to design authority and manufacturer ArianeGroup.

Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) is to establish an aviation cluster in Jeddah as the company gears up for aerospace programs to serve the needs of the Saudi armed forces and government agencies.

The Philippines has taken delivery of two Elbit Systems Hermes 450 medium-altitude, long-endurance surveillance drones, its defense secretary confirmed.

Relativity Space, which plans to launch satellites using entirely 3D-printed rockets, has closed a $140 million Series C funding round.

Australia is stepping up interest in developing both offensive and defensive capability in hypersonic weapons.

Oct. 8-10—Satellite Innovation 2019, Silicon Valley Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California. For more information go to 2019.satelliteinnovation.com