Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

BlueBird Aero Systems has received a contract from an undisclosed navy to supply its WanderB vertical takeoff and landing UAS for deployment on patrol vessels.

Israeli intelligence was the basis of Washington’s decision to send an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf.

HISDESAT picked consortium led by AIRBUS and THALES ALENIA SPACE to build two SpainSAT NG satellites. First launch in 2023.

SpaceX plans to launch dozens of demonstration Starlink satellites as early as May 15 and follow up with at least two more flights of operational spacecraft later this year.

A shortage of pilots and mechanics is a “serious and immediate problem” affecting business aircraft, commercial airlines and the military, the head of the Aviation Workforce Alliance warns. Without action, the situation will grow much worse, keynote speaker AWA Executive Director David Olive told attendees at a Wichita Aero Club luncheon last week. Pilots are retiring faster than the airlines can hire, Olive said.

Space plans to launch dozens of demonstration Starlink satellites as early as May 15 and follow up with at least two more flights of operational spacecraft later this year.

The U.S. Marine Corps has formalized recent plans to add an anti-ship weapon to its mainly land-attack arsenal.

The U.S. Marine Corps is kicking off the first phase of its MUX development strategy and conducting a prize challenge for industry.

For AeroVironment, the partnership offers a chance to widen the market for its short-range, loitering munitions, such as the Switchblade and Black Wing.

India’s Smart Anti Airfield Weapon is expected to be completed by 2020 for induction into the country’s air force.

“I’m not really sure I would call it a policy reversal. We are in a budget process and they call it a budget process for a reason,” Navy undersecretary Thomas Modly told reporters here May 7.

Airbus Helicopter’s CityAirbus urban air mobility demonstrator has made its milestone first hops into the air in Germany.

UK ROYAL AIR FORCE Typhoon fighters began four-month NATO Air Policing mission in the Baltic region May 3, from Amari Airbase in Estonia, taking over from German air force.

This week Congress continues its work on various appropriation bills.

Raytheon Co., Dulles, Virginia, was awarded a $663,060,634 firm-fixed-price contract for Troposcatter Transmission System, spares, repairs, warranty, system engineering, field support, training and sustainment.

The readiness rate for the MV-22 Osprey is at a dismal 52% and will not hit the target of 80% set by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis “soon enough,” according to the program manager.

Contrary to India’s predictions, debris from the country’s intentional destruction of its Microsat-R spacecraft six weeks ago has not re-entered.

The U.S. Navy has defined a mission and an operational concept for a Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter that rules out a joint aircraft development project with the U.S. Air Force.

Research organization Mitre Corp. has developed a concept architecture for commercial space operations that envisions “surface-to-space” traffic management.

The CEO of U.S.-based oil-and-gas helicopter operator Era Group says the industry is in “dire need” of consolidation.

The potential Patriot purchase was one of a trio of major Middle Eastern arms deals approved by the DSCA on May 3, valued at just under $6 billion.

Turkey’s Tubitak Sage research and development institute has begun development work on a modular guide bomb that could be fitted with a range of guidance systems and warheads.

A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship made an early-morning rendezvous with the International Space Station May 6, while the investigation continues into how a Crew Dragon test capsule was destroyed on a test stand in April.

The service seeks to sign contracts in fiscal 2020-2024 for launches that will take place through 2027.