Aerospace & Defense Roundup: Oct. 8

NATO Setting Requirements For New Medium Helicopter

NATO is to start engaging with industry in early 2021 as European members begin to mull their medium-rotorcraft needs for the 2040s. Member states are currently in a UK-led preconcept phase for the Next Generation Medium Rotorcraft (NGRC), which is aimed at setting requirements for a new fleet of medium helicopters that will replace around 1,000 airframes currently in service with NATO countries (excluding the U.S.) between 2030 and 2045. Credit: U.S. Army

Test Program Delivers Fresh Fruit Fast With Autonomous Aircraft

Faster delivery of fresh fruit from grower to consumer is the promise of a test program unveiled by California-based produce company Giumarra and autonomous aircraft startup Reliable Robotics. Credit: Reliable Robotics

U.S. Army Demo Included Flares Inflight Recoveries

The U.S. Army recovered multiple air vehicles in flight during the Project Convergence 20 event in September, officials said. The elaborate technology and networking demonstration at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, included tests of the Area-I Altius 300 as an Air-Launched Effect (ALE), an Army concept that involves using a Future Attack and Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) or an MQ-1C Gray Eagle as a mother ship for a self-launched drone swarm with a variety of capabilities. Credit: U.S. Army

Marines, Sikorsky Near CH-53K Lot 4 Deal

The U.S. Marine Corps and Sikorsky are close to an agreement for six CH-53K Lot 4 helicopters and may seal the deal by the end of the month. “I think we have made a tremendous amount of progress” in reaching an agreement on low-rate initial production Lot 4, Sikorsky CH-53K program director Bill Falk told Aerospace DAILY on Oct. 5. The Lot 4 aircraft use funds from fiscal 2020. Credit: USMC

U.S. Edges Closer To Nuclear Thermal Rocket Vision

As NASA continues feasibility studies into nuclear propulsion for deep space missions, DARPA has awarded an initial contract to help pave the way towards possible orbital tests of a nuclear-powered rocket for U.S. military use in and around cislunar space. Credit: DARPA

KHI RC-2 Electronic Intelligence Aircraft Joins Squadron

An electronic-intelligence aircraft converted from a Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) C-2 airlifter prototype moved to a tactics development unit on Oct. 1, bringing new but undisclosed signals-interception capabilities closer to operation for Japan. Designated an RC-2, the jet will operate from the Iruma base near Tokyo. Credit: Japanese Air Self-Defense Force

France Begins Retiring KC-135

France has begun retiring the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker as it modernizes its aerial refueling capacity around the Airbus A330 Phenix Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT). Credit: Adrian Pingstone

HAPSMobile UAV Demonstrates LTE Connectivity From The Stratosphere

HAPSMobile has announced the first stratospheric flight of its AeroVironment-developed Sunglider high-altitude pseudo-satellite, the fifth test flight of the solar-powered long-endurance unmanned aircraft. Credit: HAPSMobile

Osiris-Rex Landing At Asteroid Bennu Promises Drama

Near Earth asteroid Bennu has undergone a complex evolution since breaking away from its parent body during the Solar System’s early era. It hosts a rich bounty of carbon-bearing materials, possibly organics, in boulders that stretch across the surface. Some of them have bright veins of carbonate material that likely formed in water flowing over the object that served as Bennu’s birthplace before breaking up. Credit: NASA

Honeywell Aerospace Adds Thermal Specialist Rocky Research

Honeywell said Oct. 7 it acquired privately held Rocky Research, a Boulder City, Nevada-based specialist in thermal, energy and power management solutions, and will add the boutique to its Honeywell Aerospace division. Credit: Rocky Research

Russian Kicks Off Quiet Supersonic Transport Research Project

A Russian-funded program to develop technologies for a low-boom supersonic passenger aircraft has kicked off with a virtual meeting of the research consortium in late September led by the project’s coordinator, the TsAGI aerohydrodynamic research institute. The Supersonic project is one of 10 new scientific and technological development centers (NTsMU) named in August by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Credit: TsAGI

U.S. GovernmentPentagon

Kubernetes Achieves First Flight On Military Aircraft

In a first for a military weapon system, the U.S. Air Force ran the Kubernetes orchestration tool for cloud native microservice containers on a Lockheed Martin U-2S in flight on Sept. 22, Air Combat Command announced. The use of Kubernetes allowed the U-2S’ mission systems to run advanced machine learning algorithms during the flight. Credit: U.S. Air Force