Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

LOCKHEED MARTIN has $14.5m U.S. Navy contract for initial lay-in of repair material for seven F-35 Lightning II aircraft.

Airbus has become the founding partner for Air Race E, the first race series for electric aircraft.

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In early February, a delegation of Roscosmos State Corp. visited Vostochny spaceport in Russia’s Far East, the site of a new launch pad for the future super-heavy rocket that will be used for planned flights to the Moon.

Spain has formally joined France and Germany to support the development of a European Future Combat Air System (FCAS).

Korea Aerospace Industries unveiled the first structural component produced for the KF-X fighter during a Feb. 14 factory ceremony.

NASA’s newly selected SPHEREx mission will survey distant galaxies and the Milky Way to help chart the evolution of the universe and the presence of water and organics.

Airbus has taken yet another financial hit on the development of the A400M, but says it managed to achieve a “significant de-risking” of the airlifter in 2018.

Germany is expected to place a follow-on order for Eurofighters as it looks to replace its older-model Tranche 1 aircraft.

In his first speech as NASA’s deputy administrator, James Morhard emphasized that the space agency’s future depends on private industry partnerships.

Los Angeles-based startup Relativity Space has been granted a patent for a machine-learning technique for its additive manufacturing process.

LOCKHEED MARTIN has $212m U.S. Navy contract for work to adapt Aegis Weapon System for Japan’s navy.

India’s state-run defense agency has tested an indigenously developed ramjet propulsion technology for long-range, air-to-air missiles.

View the Leader Spotlight: Rep. Joe Courtney, Chairman, House Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee in PDF format.

SpaceX on Feb. 11 filed a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office over NASA’s $148.3 million award to ULA to launch its Lucy asteroid explorer.

Long-running efforts to re-establish communications with NASA’s intrepid Opportunity rover on Mars have come to a close.

With the Amazon effect driving demand for rapid delivery of e-commerce goods, U.S. startup Elroy Air plans to fly a full-scale prototype of its unmanned cargo aircraft this year.

The U.S. Air Force has announced plans to buy 50 AGM-158C long-range anti-ship missiles from Lockheed Martin for the third lot of low rate initial production.

Boeing and Safran have named their joint venture for auxiliary power units (APUs), calling it Initium Aerospace.

Target Arm is to add autonomous precision navigation to its prototype Talon universal launch and recovery platform for small UAS under a contract from the USAF.

Industry in Denmark, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and the UK have secured component repair work for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

India is taking the next steps toward shortlisting Indian strategic partners and foreign manufacturers to produce 111 Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH).

U.S. Trump administration officials have publicly acknowledged ongoing problems with the export of UAVs that the aerospace industry has voiced for some time.

Sikorsky has announced an accord with on-demand helo service provider Blade that will give the Lockheed Martin firm access to data on the urban air mobility market.

TEXTRON AVIATION DEFENSE has $10.4m U.S. Air Force contract for 12 T-6C aircraft, maintenance and pilot training, and interim contractor support.