Aircraft & Propulsion

Leonardo has begun flight tests of the latest iteration of its Osprey active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.

The company has tested miniaturized radar warning receiver technology in support the UK’s Tempest fighter.

Indigenous fighter development and F-35 acquisition figure heavily in South Korea’s 2020 defense budget, which will rise faster than GDP.

China’s new bomber was expected in 2019. Its appearance in 2020 is likely. A new fighter should appear no later than 2035, says Avic.

Though tensions with Pakistan remain high, New Delhi is struggling to spend more to modernize.

Russia’s new bomber will enter service in 2027, a senior Ministry of Defense official said.

Fielding counter-small unmanned aircraft systems is a priority for the Pentagon in 2020.

The U.S. government and Sikorsky have solidified a production fix for the CH-53K King Stallion exhaust gas reingestion problem.

More highly integrated composite structure is a possible technology for a future Chinese fighter.

Plans to buy new fighters, helicopters, tankers and tiltrotors are on hold until a new government can be formed.

Turkey’s defense ties with Russia are causing problems with NATO and the U.S., while local weapons development continues.

Continuing Middle East instability prompts capability-strengthening and local defense industry growth, especially in the Gulf states.

The Pentagon’s vast hypersonic investment strategy will finally enter the flight-test stage in 2020.

NATO’s Alliance Ground Surveillance Force is gearing up for the first flights from its Italian base.

Lockheed Martin has extended its long-running hypersonic links with Aerojet Rocketdyne.

Lockheed Martin formally opened a new assembly line for F-16 Block 70 aircraft in Greenville, South Carolina, on Dec. 17.

Lockheed Martin F-35As previously designated for Turkey will be converted to the U.S. Air Force fleet, congressional appropriators said on Dec. 17.

A minor flight test incident in October did nothing to dampen enthusiasm for the Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie in Congress.

House appropriators have agreed to partially reverse a proposed 50% cut to the USAF's requested fiscal 2020 budget for the Next Generation Air Dominance program.

A conference agreement by the House and Senate on Dec. 16 inserts at least three-quarters of a billion dollars in fiscal 2020 budget accounts linked to the U.S. military’s bulging hypersonic weapons portfolio.

The U.S. House on Dec. 17 passed a spending bill that will provide $693.3 billion to the Pentagon in fiscal 2020.

The USAF is extending invitations to countries in the Indo-Pacific region that operate the F-35 to participate in Red Flag 2021.

The amount of spending suggests a greater effort than put into previous concept designs earlier in this decade for the aircraft.

An absence of debate over defense policy during the election campaign raises questions about priorities.

After a decade of emphasis on the air force, priorities may shift to the navy and strategic missile forces.