The UK has placed a £65 million ($81.5 million) order for its first three General Atomics MQ-9B Protector medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air systems.

The commercial human lander system is a critical part of the Trump administration’s directive that NASA accelerate its return to the surface of the Moon with human explorers from 2028 to 2024.

The House Appropriations Committee on July 14 approved by a vote of 30-22 its mark of the fiscal 2021 defense funding bill, which likely will be vetoed by President Donald Trump.

The U.S. Air Force has divulged additional details on how the future MQ-9 replacement will operate and may expand its mission set by featuring an air-to-air weapon.

Textron Aviation told employees July 14 that it plans to lay off about 800 employees in Kansas, mostly at its facilities here.

BAE Systems says it is working with 40 companies and academia to develop new methods of production that could halve the production time compared to previous programs.

The U.S. Air Force is already starting to look at major upgrade options for the F-15EX despite billing the program as having minimal development cost.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper has chosen White House Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios as the acting undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, replacing Mike Griffin.