Aerospace & Defense Roundup: Jun. 23

About 250 Textron Aviation employees received 60-day layoff notices June 23, including 70 in Wichita, as the company adjusts to the economic uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company told employees.

The U.S. Navy on June 22 delivered the first Bell Boeing CMV-22 Osprey to an operational squadron at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.

The target of two joint upcoming NASA/European Space Agency (ESA) planetary defense demonstration missions—the Double Asteroid Re-direction Test (DART) and Hera—has received an official name, Dimorphos.

Switzerland’s Kopter Group has resumed flight-test activities in Sicily after a three-month hiatus caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Merlin

Russia’s industrial giant Rostec Corp. is speeding up the restructuring of United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) to increase its efficiency. Since the beginning of June, it has changed the top management at several UAC key subsidiaries and expedited the merger of jet makers Sukhoi and MiG into a single combat aircraft division.

Redwire, a venture capital-backed family of space technology companies, has added Florida-based Made In Space to its portfolio, the companies announced June 23.

Electric flight startup ZeroAvia has completed its first electrically driven flight in the UK as it gears up its operations to demonstrate a 250-300-nm flight with its hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Tupolev has released specifications and a seven-year schedule for completing design of a 30-seat, supersonic business jet, which includes flying a testbed aircraft possibly derived from the Tu-160 bomber.