Aerospace & Defense Roundup: August 19

A sea-based Aegis missile defense system could be the next program to be abandoned by Tokyo. The Japanese Defense Ministry does not plan to seek funds for it in the upcoming fiscal 2022 budget. Citing government sources, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said such a budget request will “likely be impossible over the next few years.” Credit: U.S. Missile Defense Agency

A U.S. Navy E-2D Hawkeye is refueled by a MQ-25 Stingray test aircraft.

New Zealand regional airline Sounds Air has confirmed its launch orders with Swedish startup Heart Aerospace for an initial three ES-19 electric 19-passenger aircraft. Based in Blenheim on South Island, the carrier is anticipating first delivery in 2026. Credit: Sounds Air/Heart Aerospace

One of the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) early science tasks, called COSMOS-Webb, will be a wide and deep mapping of the 13.7 billion-year-old universe. The 200-hr., high-resolution survey will cover a half million galaxies in the infrared and an unprecedented 32,000 star systems in the mid-infrared. Credit: NASA

Ampaire is relocating its hybrid-electric propulsion test aircraft to Exeter, England, after completing flight tests in Orkney, Scotland. The flight demonstrations are being conducted under projects funded by the UK government’s Future Flight Challenge. Credit: Angus Batey / Aviation Week

The Indonesian research and technology agency BPPT plans to develop a floatplane variant of the PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) N219 Nurtanio turboprop aircraft to foster domestic aerospace research and manufacturing capabilities. Credit: Indonesian Aerospace

One reason sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) costs more than conventional jet fuel is the expense of transporting biomass feedstocks to centralized production plants. A new process for producing jet fuel from ethanol with less energy and smaller facilities creates the potential for a distributed processing system located close to biomass sources, according to its developers. Credit: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

NASA says plans for the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project to flight-test megawatt-class electric aircraft propulsion systems are on track with “at least two” contract awards due to be made to industry in the coming months. Credit: NASA