Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Tony Osborne
The UK's defense ministry has signed off on a long-awaited contract to purchase five E-7 airborne early warning aircraft from Boeing in a $1.98 billion deal.
Defense

India’s national space agency is collaborating with its French counterpart to build a satellite network to step up surveillance of Indian waters.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Citing the accelerating pace of discovery in science and technology, DARPA is launching a new approach to rapid projects.
Defense

MBDA conducted first Brimstone 3 firing at Vidsel Trials range in Sweden, launching against pickup truck target in temperatures below -30C.

On March 21 the Kazakhstan Border Guard announced a firm order for one Airbus C295 transport aircraft.

View the Aviation Week Forecasts: Western Military Tanker Aircraft In-Service Fleets 2018-2028 chart in PDF format.

LOCKHEED MARTIN has $264.7m U.S. Navy contract for operation and technical services for South Korea’s F-35 Lightning IIs.

Brazil and the U.S. have signed an agreement that may pave the way for U.S. access to space launches from Alcantara Launch Center.

India’s defense R&D agency has successfully tested its latest indigenously-developed man-portable anti-tank guided missile (MPATGM).

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. Air Force’s next tanker aircraft will probably be autonomous, the service’s top acquisition official says.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Sikorsky and Boeing accomplished the delayed first flight of the SB-1 Defiant high-speed helicopter on March 21 at West Palm Beach, Florida.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The quad-national EuroMALE UAS program looks set to secure the lion’s share of €500 million ($567 million) in funding from the European Union.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
A pair of Bombardier Global 6000 business jets have been delivered to Turkey in readiness for conversion into standoff jammer (SOJ) platforms.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Turkish Aerospace has completed the surprise first flight of a twin-engine version of its Anka medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAV.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
NASA has outlined a three-step strategy for achieving a sustained human return to the Moon’s surface by 2028.
Space

By Marhalim Abas
The Philippines Air Force will return at least one grounded UH-1 helicopter to service within five weeks as the service begins receiving parts donated by Japan.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
The Defense Department has found that the top 10 states by total defense spending in fiscal 2017 received accounted for $239.7 billion of $407 billion total tracked that year.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s 2020 budget proposal seeks a $109 million investment in a Mars sample return mission.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Leonardo is working with Simplex Aerospace to develop a new firefighting-capable version of its C-27J Spartan turboprop airlifter.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The Swiss government is to split state-owned aerospace and defense company RUAG into two separate operating units, one of which will later be privatized.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
DARPA plans to demonstrate a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) system that can be assembled on orbit to expand U.S. operating presence in cislunar space.
Program Management

By Mark Carreau
What the JAXA Hayabusa 2 science team members have witnessed from their spacecraft at the asteroid Ryugu is making them more eager to study samples of its surface and subsurface.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The British defense ministry has shelved plans for industry to provide a fleet of former military aircraft for more realistic training.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
Japan will extend the range of the Mach-3 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) ASM-3 air-to-ship missile.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
European missile manufacturer MBDA says it has no plans to adjust missile work shares despite the export challenges of Germany’s arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.
Defense