Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

SIERRA NEVADA CORP. has $317m U.S. Air Force contract for Precision Strike Package program for AC-130W, AC-130J.

Tactical Robotics has teamed with crop protection company Adama to perform a joint feasibility study of using Tactical Robotics’ Cormorant for aerial spraying.

View the Defense Market Intelligence Notes in PDF format.

By Irene Klotz
DARPA was the sole customer for Rocket Lab’s fifth Electron mission, which lifted off at 7:27 p.m. EDT from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
The Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program to replace the Minuteman III ICBM is considering a proposal to use two suppliers for solid rocket motors.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
A routine inspection discovered “potentially fleet-wide issues” with the drogue chute for the B-1B’s ejection seat.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
An appellate body of the World Trade Organization has upheld European and Airbus claims that the U.S. side of an ongoing airliner manufacturing subsidies dispute failed to withdraw subsidies that Airbus proponents assert has led to $15-20 billion in harm.

By Marhalim Abas
Russian state holding company Rostec says Indonesia's pending order for 11 Sukhoi Su-35 fighters will go through.
Defense

GENERAL DYNAMICS has $92.9m U.S. Defense Logistics Agency contract for Warfighter Information Network-Tactical Increment 1 system.

Andrew Marshall, the founder of the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment (ONA) and a master strategist, died on March 26.

By Jen DiMascio
India’s March 27 anti-satellite test likely took out the 740-kg (1,630-lb.) Microsat-R satellite, according to space situational awareness experts.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. Air Force has started detailing the roles of future bases for the B-21 bomber.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on March 27 that her country has submitted a request to the Trump administration to acquire new F-16V fighters.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Saab says it will intensify the flight test effort for it Gripen E/F combat aircraft with additional prototypes and production aircraft joining the program in 2019.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
German aerospace center DLR is planning to fly a prototype of a new digital aeronautical radio system for the first time by the end of March.

By Mark Carreau
NASA has agreed to conduct an assessment of the probabilities of meeting cost and launch schedule estimates for the James Webb Space Telescope by late September.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. Marine Corps wants to test a new kind of small, fixed-wing unmanned air system.
Defense

India has tested an Anti-Satellite Missile System by destroying one of its low Earth orbiting satellites.
Defense

By Marhalim Abas
Money woes continue to hamper Malaysian military recapitalization and sustainment plans as the government indicates it has other priorities.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
Boeing’s two-seat F-15EX aircraft will be flown with an empty back seat by squadrons now flying single-seat F-15Cs, the U.S. Air Force says.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
About “half” of the U.S. Army’s AH-64 fleet will be replaced by the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, U.S. Army officials confirmed to Aerospace DAILY.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
United Technologies Corp. (UTC) is modifying a Bombardier Dash 8 Q100 regional aircraft into a hybrid-electric flight demonstrator scheduled to fly in 2022.

By Irene Klotz
Nine companies picked by NASA last year as eligible to fly small payloads to the surface of the Moon have been notified that NASA is looking for its first ride.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Navy's next-generation Ford-class aircraft carrier will experience at least a three-month delivery delay to the operational fleet because of issues with its nuclear powerplant.
Defense

By Irene Klotz
President Donald Trump on March 26 called on NASA to land U.S. astronauts on the Moon within five years, Vice President Mike Pence said.
Defense