Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Lockheed Martin is developing a new air-dominance missile for the U.S. Air Force and Navy with significantly greater range than the AIM-120 Amraam as a counter to China’s new PL-15 weapon, a top U.S. Air Force official says.

“This is the strongest rebuke of [Saudi Arabia] and its leaders since I joined the Senate,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), first elected in 1992.

The U.S. Defense Department’s top sustainment official says a $25,000 cost per flight hour target for the Lockheed Martin F-35A remains achievable by 2025.

Professional association and standards-writer SAE International says it is forming a new committee for applied artificial intelligence (AI) in aviation systems.

As the unit flyaway cost of the Lockheed Martin F-35 dramatically decreases, Boeing argues that the F-15EX will remain a competitive option for the USAF.

Pilots will have to be trained to operate the ageing Tornado platform for at least another decade. But investment in training has not kept pace with the many changes made to the platform.

A company official says first flight for the new type is imminent.

Iran shot down a U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstrator aircraft while the UAS was flying in international airspace, the DOD has confirmed.

The Royal Thai Air Force has become the first international customer to update its C-130H transport fleet with the Rolls-Royce T56 Series 3.5 engine upgrade.

GENERAL ATOMICS AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS has $91m U.S. Air Force contract for UK MQ-9A fleet repair and maintenance services.

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan will not move forward with his confirmation process after allegations of a 2010 domestic incident surfaced in a news report.

The companies said the agreement combines Raytheon’s expertise in supplying the FAA’s Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System and AirMap’s as a service supplier for the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability.

A California startup developing an electric kinetic launch system has signed its first launch contract, with the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit.

Boeing Defense, Space and Security Chief Executive Leanne Caret said the “time was right” to move the company’s space launch HQ.

The National Academy of Sciences says the launch of an IR space observatory is urgently needed to track Near Earth Objects that could threaten Earth.

The Danish company announced it will cut as many as 30 employees by the end of June, with reductions targeted at administrative and manufacturing overhead.

The Himalayas are experiencing an accelerated loss of glacial ice, a Columbia University-led research effort has found.

“It’s about time for an upgrade,” says Raytheon in a recent blog post, adding that it “is bidding on the (FENS) contract later this year.”

A NASA IG report on IT security at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory raises a range of concerns over the Caltech-managed facility’s vulnerability to cyberattack.

In the midst of its operational testing, the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus is making its international debut at the Paris Air Show.

The USAF has reconfirmed plans to move forward with the final phase of the competition to deliver a replacement for the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile.

Congress must negotiate a two-year budget deal before the 2020 presidential election heats up or the DOD and its defense industrial base will suffer, AIA CEO Eric Fanning says.

NORWAY to invest NOK8b ($920m) in military air surveillance radars to monitor Norwegian airspace.

This week the Paris Air Show is underway in Le Bourget, with Aerospace DAILY on site bringing you the latest news and analysis from the year’s biggest aviation event.

LinQuest Corp., Los Angeles, has been awarded a $562,302,987 cost-plus-incentive-fee base plus six option years contract for systems engineering, integration and test (SEIT) support.