Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

European efforts to demonstrate CCA efforts are gaining pace, with Airbus saying it is looking to fly two modified Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie systems before year end.

ESA is prepping to launch two low-Earth-orbit PNT demonstration satellites to lay the groundwork for an operational constellation to be lofted this decade.

Avio is considering how to speed up U.S. missile motor production, with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East pointing to demand greatly surpassing projections.

U.S. Central Command said at least four of six crew on a KC-135 that crashed during Operation Epic Fury have died.

News in brief.

RAYTHEON gets SM-3 award... BELL sells 407GXis to South African company... New COO for BRIDGER AEROSPACE...

An electronic warfare upgrade for the Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 30/32 has entered low-rate initial production.

A Senate panel on March 12 voted in favor of President Trump’s nomination of Matthew Anderson to serve as NASA’s deputy administrator.

Over the next decade $121.3 billion is set to be spent on C4ISR and armed ISR aircraft, with $55.4 billion of the total already under contract, Aviation Week predicts.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded two new deals worth $2.43 billion to Boeing to continue developing two E-7A prototypes as directed by Congress.

NASA is now targeting liftoff of the Artemis II mission as early as April 1.

A U.S. Air Force Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker crashed March 12 in Iraq as part of the ongoing conflict in Iran, with one other aircraft involved in the incident.

An anti-ship version of the U.S. Army’s newest long-range, surface-to-surface missile has completed its first test flight, Lockheed Martin said.

Mantis Space, a startup working on a proposed constellation of satellites that beam solar power around in orbit, said March 12 it raised a $10 million seed round of venture capital.

Voyager Technologies has opened a new 140,000-ft.² facility in Long Beach, California, becoming the latest space-centric company to set up shop in “Space Beach.”

Jon Rambeau will become Karman Space & Defense's CEO on March 23, when current CEO Tony Koblinski steps aside while remaining a director on the board.

The DOD is crafting a supplemental spending request to both replenish existing weapons used in the conflict in Iran and buy new, improved systems.

Demand from the increasing number of conflicts is outpacing industry’s ability to scale up, Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani warns.

The Pentagon has pledged that it is moving forward on the U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX fighter program under congressional direction in recent bills.

Airbus, Bell and Leonardo have recorded orders for 26 helicopters during this year’s Verticon rotorcraft exhibition in Atlanta.

Electric propulsion provider MagniX is preparing a power system for flight tests later this year in a modified Robinson Helicopter Corporation R66.

Russian users from Kaliningrad to Siberia lost signals of their satellite television on March 4 after the Ekspress-AT1 broadcasting satellite went offline.

The Pentagon will roll out its fiscal 2027 budget “relatively soon,” providing more details on what will become a generational investment in the U.S. military.

The Air Force Research Laboratory ground launched a liquid-fueled ballistic missile powered by the Ursa Major Draper rocket engine in January.

Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani says he’s “very open” to expanding the GCAP partnership to develop a future fighter.