Aerospace & Defense Roundup: Oct, 16

France and Germany will sign an aircraft demonstrator contract for the European Future Combat Air System in January, the leaders of the two countries have agreed.

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Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has begun building the first prototype for the KF-X fighter program, following completion of the critical design review in September.

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Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is test-flying an upgraded version of its Surion utility helicopter for export, with options including stub wings for weapons.

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NASA’s flurry of spacewalks to replace aging batteries on the International Space Station’s far port side solar power truss has been interrupted by the discovery of a failed power controller following the second of the five planned excursions.

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Sierra Nevada Corp. is beginning full assembly of the first operational Dream Chaser spacecraft at its Louisville, Colorado, facility.

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Virgin Galactic and Boeing expect to finish a design for a point-to-point suborbital plane over the next few months, Virgin founder Richard Branson told Aerospace DAILY. 

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Airbus has confirmed it is no longer involved with the Pop.Up concept it studied with Audi, after reports emerged that the German carmaker has suspended work on the autonomous fly/drive air taxi.

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