Textron Aviation has delivered two Cessna Citation Latitude midsize business jets configured for flight inspection missions to Kanematsu Corp., owned by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.

The U.S. Marine Corps has delivered eight newly-manufactured Lockheed Martin F-35Bs to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, replacing the original batch of short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing fighters that first arrived in 2017, the service announced on April 21. 

The U.S. Air Force has discovered that vertically mounted wiper blades on the KC-135 Stratotanker reduce aircraft drag by about 1% during cruise conditions, potentially saving the service $7 million annually in fuel costs.

Lockheed Martin proved April 21 why its is probably the best-positioned company in aerospace and defense to ride out the novel coronavirus outbreak, with the company reporting consensus-beating first-quarter financial results and a positive forecast for 2020.

The Pentagon is investing $133 million to increase U.S. N95 mask production by 39 million over the next 90 days to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.

A Japanese choice of U.S. partners for development of the Next Generation Fighter has been reported by a second major Japanese newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun, following an article along similar lines last month.

The South Korean finance ministry has reiterated that spending shifts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic will not delay deliveries of Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightnings to the country.

The Pentagon predicts there will be a three-month slowdown for major defense acquisition programs because of impacts related to the novel coronavirus pandemic.