Aerospace & Defense Roundup: Mar. 24

First Production Bell 525 To Be Delivered In Oil And Gas Mode

The first customer Bell 525 will be configured for oil and gas operations, the rotorcraft manufacturer has revealed as it focuses on getting the fly-by-wire, twin-engine, super-medium helicopter certified in 2021. Offshore oil and gas operations are one of the key target segments for the new aircraft, which Bell hopes to begin delivering to customers in 2022. Credit: Bell

Lunar Gateway Electric Thrusters Pass Key Test Milestone

Developers of the solar electric propulsion (SEP) system for NASA’s Lunar-orbiting Gateway outpost have successfully validated key elements of the design during an eight-week hot-fire test campaign, paving the way for a preliminary design review of the spacecraft later this year. Credit: Busek

Canadian Space Stalwart MDA To Become Public Company Again

Canadian space stalwart MDA, which was taken private a year ago by private equity buyer Northern Private Capital, has filed with Canadian securities authorities for an initial public offering (IPO) of stock worth almost $400 million. The number of common shares to be sold in the IPO and their price have not yet been determined, the company said March 22. Credit: NASA

Leonardo Steps Back From DRS Selloff, Shelves Share Sale

Leonardo, Italy’s large aerospace and defense company, said March 24 that it has postponed the initial public offering (IPO) of stock in its U.S. defense electronics subsidiary known as DRS. Credit: Leonardo

AAM Startup Xeriant Looks To Raise Money In Public Offering

Xeriant, a three-year-old aerospace holding company that includes the Halo concept for an electric-vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) taxi, is preparing to offer more public shares to raise funds for acquisitions and other endeavors. Credit: Xeriant SEC Filing

NASA Unveils Strategy To Pursue Commercial ISS Successors

NASA is unveiling a two-phase, multiyear strategy to foster the development of multiple U.S. commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) free flyers that would take over current International Space Station (ISS) activities. The free flyers would feature a combined capability to support at least two NASA astronauts and 200 research and development projects annually. Credit: NASA

UK Royal Navy Inducts Helicopter-Borne Crowsnest Radar

The first of the Royal Navy’s new Crowsnest Airborne Surveillance and Control (ASaC) helicopters has been inducted into service and will be ready for the UK’s first Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) deployment in May. The Crowsnest capability is one of the primary components of the UK’s carrier strike capability, along with the ships themselves and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. It uses Thales Searchmaster 2000 radar and the associated Cerberus mission system, packaged for fitment on the Navy’s Leonardo EH101 Merlin Mk.2 anti-submarine helicopters in a development program overseen by Lockheed Martin. Credit: Leonardo

Agility Prime Funds ESTOL Active Landing Gear Tests

A novel active landing gear designed by electric aircraft startup Metro Hop to enable ultrashort takeoffs and landings is to be tested under the U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime advanced air mobility program. In California startup Metro Hop’s design, electric motors in the main wheels accelerate its all-electric short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) aircraft to 60 mph in 4-5 sec. The active landing gear legs then rotate downward and push the aircraft’s nose up to rotate for takeoff. Credit: Metro Hop

UK Wants More Productive Relationship With Defense Industry

The UK government is planning reforms to defense procurement as part of a strategy that aims to foster a more productive relationship between government and the defense and security industry. Reforms proposed in its Defense and Security Industrial Strategy, published March 23, include a move away from a 2012 policy for “competition by default” in defense procurement to one that will take more consideration over what can be sourced from the UK. Credit: John Keeble / Getty Images

V-22 Next Study Excludes 'Brand New Aircraft' Option

The scope of the V-22 Next program is limited to proposing upgrades that improve the reliability of the existing aircraft, not buying a replacement for the Bell Boeing tiltrotor, a U.S. Marine Corps official said on March 24. Credit: USMC

Volocopter Plans Four-Seater, 100,000-EVTOL Fleet By 2035

With the vision of operating 100,000 air taxis in cities globally by 2035, Volocopter has detailed its approach to scalable urban air mobility in a new white paper. The German startup is targeting a market it projects will be worth €240 billion ($283.5 billion) annually by 2035. Credit: Volocopter

AFRL Splits Skyborg Into Two, Complementary Programs

The U.S. Air Force’s search for a family of cheap unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) controlled by artificial intelligence (AI) software has split into two complementary programs. The Skyborg Vanguard program announced in March 2019 is continuing to focus on how to shape the requirements for an operational UAS, said Reid Melville, the lead for the Transformational Capabilities Office in the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Credit: Air Force Research Laboratory

SpaceXStarlink

Defense DepartmentPentagon

Autonomy Startups Team Up To Target Commercial Aircraft

Machine learning specialist Daedalean and autonomous system developer Reliable Robotics have partnered to build advanced navigation and situational awareness systems for commercial aircraft. Swiss startup Daedalean is applying computer vision and machine learning technology to the development of autonomous piloting software. U.S.-based Reliable Robotics is developing an automation system to enable remote piloting of regional cargo aircraft. Credit: Daedalean