Aerospace & Defense Roundup: Jan. 04

Tunisia is to be the first foreign customer for Turkish Aerospace’s (TAI) Anka medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air system.

Switzerland now has armed aircraft on duty around the clock for air policing duties, boosting the readiness of the country’s air force. Credit: Swiss Armed Forces

Teledyne Technologies will buy smaller rival FLIR Systems under a proposed $8 billion stock-and-cash deal unveiled Jan. 4, bringing together two complementary providers of digital imaging, aerospace and defense electronics to form a growing midtier specialist. Credit: FLIR Systems

Saab has secured a long-awaited $1.01 billion follow-on order from the United Arab Emirates for two more GlobalEye swing-role surveillance aircraft. The order, details of which were first revealed by the UAE armed forces at the 2019 Dubai Airshow, was finally signed on Dec. 30, but announced on Jan. 4. Credit: Bombardier

The publicly traded aerospace and defense (A&D) sector saw its share prices fall 16% collectively in 2020, with commercial aerospace companies plummeting 21% and defense companies dropping 8%, according to Vertical Research Partners. Credit: Boeing

Israel’s Ministry of Defense has delivered the second Iron Dome system to the U.S. Army to serve as an interim defense capability against cruise missiles and other aerial threats. Credit: U.S. Army

Michele Evans, the executive vice president for Aeronautics at Lockheed Martin, died on Jan. 1, the company said. Lockheed has not named her successor for the division that leads the F-35, C-130J and Advanced Development Programs, or Skunk Works. Credit: Lockheed Martin

The Italian Air Force has taken delivery of its first two Leonardo M-345 jet trainers as part of a modernization of the country’s fast jet training fleet. Credit: Italian Air Force

The New York organization developing a dedicated flight corridor for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) has named former GE AiRXOS head Ken Stewart as its new president and CEO. The Syracuse-based Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR) announced Stewart’s appointment on Jan. 4 and confirmed that it is effective immediately. He takes over the CEO position vacated by Michael Hertzendorf, who was named Helicopter Association International vice president of operations in August. Credit: GE AiRXOS

Moon

Uncertainty surrounds NASA’s Artemis initiative as the new year begins, with the Trump administration’s directive to return to the Moon’s surface with humans by 2024 and go on to Mars by the 2030s facing cost and technical challenges. Credit: NASA

The first battlefield and naval warfare variants of the NH90 helicopter on order for Qatar have made their first flights. The Gulf state has 28 of the European fly-by-wire utility helicopters on order, with 16 aircraft in the Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH) and 12 in the NATO Frigate Helicopter (NFH) configurations. Credit: Airbus Helicopters

NASA will invest nearly $110 million in a pair of solar science missions, one teaming the agency with the Japanese and European space agencies to study eruptive solar activity and another assessing electrical currents within the Earth’s atmosphere linked to auroral activity. Credit: NASA

It’s a new year and—pending the certification of Electoral College votes by Congress on Jan. 6—a new administration in the White House. For the U.S. Defense Department, however, the next 12 months will form a long-awaited crucible of testing on several of the pillars of the weapon systems and rapid acquisition processes introduced by the Trump administration. Credit: U.S. Government

Japanese express delivery company Yamato Holdings is collaborating with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on design of a cargo pod for an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aerial logistics system that the company plans to introduce early this decade. Credit: Yamato