In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, Mar. 07 2023

March 08, 2023

Russia Increasing Harassment Of U.S. Bases In Syria, USAF Says

Credit: Tony Osborne/Aviation Week. Russian fighter jets have increased their operations near and over U.S. locations in Syria in recent weeks, including an overflight within the past two days that prompted protests by American forces, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant general says.

Archer Wins Incentives Package, Building eVTOL Production Plant

Credit: Archer. Archer Aviation has closed a deal for a local government incentives package and on March 2 started construction on a Georgia-based manufacturing plant that is to produce hundreds of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles.

PteroDynamics Raises Funds, Targets DARPA X-plane

Credit: PteroDynamics. U.S. startup PteroDynamics has closed a $7.5 million seed funding round and teamed with Leidos to bid for a DARPA X-plane project to demonstrate a long-endurance vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) able to operate from warship flight decks or austere land locations without additional infrastructure.

USAF Plans To Initially Field 1,000 CCAs, Kendall Says

Credit: U.S. Air Force. The U.S. Air Force has laid out an initial operating plan for Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), the uncrewed loyal wingman systems it plans to fly alongside fighters, with an expected fielding date by the end of the decade.

Space Station’s Soyuz MS-23 Receives Crew Seat Liners

Credit: NASA

ISS

Future U.S. Homeland Defense Plan Relies On Autonomous Platforms

Credit: Airbus Defense & Space. A newly developed, long-term campaign plan by U.S. Northern Command calls for a shift to autonomous systems to defend the homeland, U.S. Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck said March 6.

Amprius Selects Colorado For Advanced Battery Gigafactory

Credit: Amprius Technologies. Airbus-backed advanced battery developer Amprius Technologies plans to build its first gigafactory in Brighton, Colorado.

Lufthansa Commits To Diamond eDA40 Electric Trainer

Credit: Diamond Aircraft. Lufthansa Aviation Training has declared its intent to be the European launch customer for Diamond Aircraft’s eDA40 electric training aircraft, with the goal of helping parent Lufthansa Group meet its commitment to cut net carbon emissions in half by 2030.

USAF Approves MH-139 Production

Credit: U.S. Air Force. The U.S. Air Force has approved production of the Boeing MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter, with an award of $285 million for the first 13 aircraft.

Moon-Based Data Center Startup Lonestar Raises $5m

Credit: Lonestar. Lonestar Data Holdings, a startup developing a data center for Moon-based operations, has raised $5 million in a seed round.

USAF Ending KC-Y Competition, Likely To Buy 75 More KC-46s

Credit: Defense Department. The U.S. Air Force wants to formally kill its KC-Y “Bridge Tanker” program as it accelerates its future Next Generation Air Refueling System (NGAS) and will likely buy another 75 KC-46 tankers in the interim to bridge the gap.

U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command Buys Three MQ-9Bs

Credit: General Atomics

MQ-9

Russia, Ukraine Both Boast Effective Air Defenses, USAF General Says

Credit: Kongsberg

NASAMS

Japan Destroys H3 In Space After Second Stage Ignition Issue

Credit: JAXA live stream. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) new H3 rocket failed March 7 after a successful initial liftoff, destroying the H3 and the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 “Daichi-3” that it was carrying. 

Amprius selects Colorado for advanced battery gigafactory and Lufthansa commits to diamond eDA40 electric trainer. Take a look at these and more in our daily roundup of aerospace & defense news.

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