Defense

The SmartGlider weapon family, which MBDA says will be available from 2025, is an unpowered glide-bomb fitted with deployable wings offering a high lift-to-drag ratio.

Trump administration boosts military space budget by 5% compared to last year’s projections, provides seed funding for six new programs.

The launch was the second to use a Falcon 9 first-stage rocket that had previously flown and landed.

U.S. lawmakers want the U.S. Air Force to sustain or accelerate fielding of its T-X trainer and consider ditching the General Atomics Block 5 MQ-9 Reaper in favor of the company’s newer MQ-9B.

India has successfully launched its Cartosat-2E remote sensing satellite, along with 30 co-passenger satellites.

Lockheed Martin hopes to leave behind the F-35’s troubled past and shift the focus to the battlefield. The Paris display may not silence the critics, but it certainly changed the conversation.

As part of a tradeoff for reduced deliveries, the French Air Force gets a pumped-up combat aircraft.

China’s Reaper lookalike makes its Western debut at the Paris Air Show.

Shuster throws down the ATC gauntlet again, while defense lawmakers seethe.

Anglo-French FCAS study finally confirms engine selection and planform.

NASA is evaluating a range of power system options to meet the challenging requirements of the agency’s human Mars exploration ambitions.

India’s space agency is in the final stages of preparation for the planned June 23 launch of its Cartosat-2E remove sensing satellite.

The second intercept test of the supersized Raytheon/Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Standard Missile-3 Block 2A failed June 21 against a medium-range ballistic missile target.

The European Space Agency awarded the “batch 3” order for Galileo satellites to OHB System June 22 during a contract signing event at the Paris Air Show.

In an active M&A market for the industry, Michael Richter, managing director and head of Lazard’s aerospace and defense investment banking group, shares his observations from the Paris Air Show.

Saudi Arabia officials believe there may be a need for as many as 100 An-132D airlifters in the Kingdom.

U.S. Strategic Command chief Gen. John Hyten has lambasted the military, the defense industry and Congress for the U.S.’s seeming inability to deliver new weapon systems quickly and at a reasonable cost.

A House panel has proposed the creation of a separate Space Corps within the U.S. Air Force as well as the development of an intermediate-range, ground-launched missile system to counter Russia.

Aerospace parts and electronics provider Heico said June 20 it acquired Carbon by Design, an upstart manufacturer of composite components for UAVs, rockets, spacecraft and other specialized applications.

From the F-35’s first Paris aerial display, the emergence of Asian players, the potential end of the A380 program . . . and a few tidbits on Boeing’s new midsize airplane, listen in to a lively debate as our team on the ground discuss the main events at the Paris Air Show.

Increasingly throughout the A&D sector, major companies that are chin-deep in the business are suddenly finding themselves reevaluating their positions.

The U.S. Air Force F-35s at an Arizona Air Force base will be back in the skies starting June 21 after an 11-day pause, although the service has instated a temporary flight restriction following a spate of hypoxia-like cockpit incidents.

Sierra Nevada Corp. has finally emerged from the shadows in its bid for the U.S. Air Force’s $6 billion Joint Stars program, announcing a partnership with Lockheed Martin for the competition.

The Missile Defense Agency has extended the development and fielding timeline for its next-generation exoatmospheric kill vehicle by about two years.

A final tally of exoplanet candidates and confirmations logged during the four-year primary mission of NASA’s Kepler space telescope promises to furnish scientists with data to estimate the number of Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy.