Aerospace & Defense Roundup: Nov. 18

A former Raytheon electrical engineer will serve 38 months in prison for transporting a company-owned laptop to China that contained files with export-controlled information about the AMRAAM and Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV) programs, the U.S. Justice Department said Nov. 18. Credit: AMRAAM: USAF

The U.S. Navy will integrate a new generation of submarine-hunting, magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) sensors on six Lockheed Martin MH-60R helicopters, CAE announced Nov. 18. CAE will supply the six MAD-Expanded Response (MAD-XR) sensors to Lockheed for integration on the MH-60Rs during Phase 1 of the program. Credit: CAE

Singapore Technologies (ST) Engineering will be simplifying its portfolio into commercial and defense divisions, replacing the sector-centric aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine entities. The restructure, designed to make the company more “industry facing and customer oriented,” will become effective Jan. 1. Credit: ST Engineering

The head of Pentagon acquisition and sustainment is focusing on several priorities during the Trump administration’s final days in office, including the creation of a trusted capital marketplace, strengthening the defense industrial base and working with Capitol Hill on purchasing software differently. Credit: DOD

Cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov focused on a number of tasks during a more than 6-hr. spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Nov. 18, including preparation of the Russian segment of the ISS for a major upgrade. Other areas of attention were work on the addition of the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module and the Prichal node, a module with a half-dozen docking ports. Credit: NASA

F-35C

The FAA next year will begin using live telemetry data from commercial space vehicles to determine the extent of airspace it needs to protect during launch and re-entry operations. Speaking to the NextGen Advisory Committee on Nov. 17, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said the agency in 2021 will start using the Space Data Integrator (SDI) it has been developing for years to track rockets as they transition through the airspace. Credit: FAA

Lithuania has signed a contract to purchase U.S.-supplied Black Hawk helicopters to replace Soviet-era rotorcraft. Vilnius will pay €181 million ($215 million) for four Sikorsky UH-60Ms, spreading the payments over the next five years for the Foreign Military Sale, Lithuanian defense officials confirmed Nov. 13. Credit: Lithuanian MOD - I.Budzeikatė / T.Balkus

Rafale

New Zealand start-up Kea Aerospace has unveiled plans to develop a stratospheric unmanned aircraft, aiming initially at the aerial imagery market. The Christchurch-based company is testing subscale prototypes and plans to fly the full-scale Kea Atmos in 2021. Credit: Kea Aerospace