Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Jen DiMascio
NASA is considering the use of commercial rockets for what was supposed to be the agency’s Space Launch System debut, Exploration Mission-1, Administrator Jim Bridenstine told lawmakers.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
The first task for the DOD's Space Development Agency is to design the architecture of a highly proliferated low Earth orbit sensor and communications transport layer to defend the U.S. from hypersonic missiles.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Archinaut, an effort by Made In Space, Inc., to advance 3D printing and robotic assembly capabilities, has achieved a new milestone.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
The USAF secretary blasted Congress for not creating its own disaster supplemental funding plan to repair Tyndall AFB after it suffered heavy hurricane damage.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
A senior Republican senator is calling the U.S. Air Force’s approach to light attack procurement “schizophrenic” and says the service’s approach is “backwards.”
Defense

By Steve Trimble
An air inlet design issue on the Northrop Grumman B-21 is resolved and the secretive development program is “on the right course,” a U.S. lawmaker said.
Defense

By Marhalim Abas, Bradley Perrett
Singapore will retire its 60 F-16s by 2030, a government presentation suggests, implying that acquisition of F-35 Lightnings will be completed in the 2020s.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
Two U.S. senators have established a bipartisan artificial intelligence caucus to complement the White’s House’s AI initiative.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
U.S. Air Force officials say the roughly $360 million reduction in this year’s budget reflects changes in the timing of planned investments.
Defense

NORTHROP GRUMMAN has $89.5m U.S. Navy contract for MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system sustainment and engineering services.

It is rumored U.S. President Donald Trump will nominate Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan to stay in the post permanently at the end of this week.

View the U.S. Defense Department FY2020 Budget Highlights chart in PDF format.

By Lee Hudson
Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan characterizes the Pentagon’s fiscal 2020 budget request as a “masterpiece” budget, but the proposal already is receiving blowback from lawmakers.

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) will delay the Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV) by two years.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
The Pentagon would focus on developing payload sensors in fiscal 2020 for a future satellite constellation intended to track hypersonic glide vehicles to combat China and Russia, a senior official said.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
U.S. defense officials have confirmed a proposal to buy at least 144 new F-15EXs, and potentially scores more of the latest version of Boeing’s strike fighter.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Toyota Corp. have agreed to accelerate cooperative efforts to develop a pressurized, fuel-cell-powered lunar rover for human explorers.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
DOD would save $3.4 billion in procurement funds and $1 billion yearly in the operations and maintenance account by retiring the USS Harry Truman early.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Marine Corps wants to purchase three MQ-9A Reapers in fiscal 2020 to build a cadre of unmanned aircraft system operators.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
The Marines want to buy fewer F-35Bs in fiscal 2020 because a future backlog was identified for the aircraft’s C-model, the service told Aerospace DAILY.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
The Pentagon is defending its unusually large $165 billion fiscal 2020 overseas contingency operations (OCO) account request.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Norway’s Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace has received its first export order for the Joint Strike Missile, with a contract from Japan for deliveries to arm its F-35As.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
U.S. defense officials are accepting an overall reduction in aircraft unit procurement in the fiscal 2020 budget request, as interest rises in the next generation of hypersonic, fixed-wing and rotary-wing capabilities.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
The Trump administration's "masterpiece" defense budget request already is receiving blowback from lawmakers who say the nascent request is “divorced from reality.”
Defense

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Navy's procurement request is $61 billion, a portion of which will purchase 148 aircraft.
Defense