Defense

The chief of the Indonesia’s Defense Facilities Board, Rear Adm. Leonardi, says the air force has stated a requirement for a high-endurance unmanned system able to detect, track and attack targets.

Lockheed Martin has successfully fired its AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (Lrasm) from a new deck-mounted launcher.

Iran’s most advanced weaponized UAV is in the midst of full production and has been deployed for domestic and international missions.

Assembly of Czech training aircraft begins; Thai military preparing for more defense imports; Lockheed wins LRASM contract, and Hughes scores wideband satcom study deal.

Aviation Week’s defense team discusses how Europe’s defense partnerships are evolving.

After decades of promise is hypersonic technology finally verging on operational capability? The U.S. Air Force thinks so, and is laying out high-speed requirements underpinned by a growing budget for sustained R&D.

Congressional support is building for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) proposed space-based sensor layer for persistent tracking and discrimination of missiles.

As the U.S. Air Force prepares to solicit industry for development of an air-launched hypersonic conventional strike weapon, for the first time the service is outlining its approach to operationalizing high-speed capability for a wide range of roles.

U.S. startup ARCA Space plans the first spaceflight on an aerospike rocket engine in August.

Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance has been awarded a contract by the French Defense Procurement Agency for both the “Maintenance in Operational Condition” and cockpit upgrade of the French Air Force’s four Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft.

Satellite views reveal new evidence for the presence of OH- and/or H20-bearing chemistry trapped in widespread lunar volcanic deposits.

Reporting its second quarter results, a bullish Boeing declared $4.5 billion in cash earnings, approximately double previous estimates.

Aerojet Rocketdyne reports a successful test of the third of four RS-25 controllers for the quartet of space shuttle-era rocket engines that are to power the first stage of NASA’s Space Launch System.

The Korea Aerospace Industries KF-X fighter will have a two-seat version, developers have confirmed.

North Dakota’s Grand Sky unmanned aircraft business park is planning to begin commercial beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights in mid-August following final approval and equipment installation.

Interest is mounting in a potential new fleet of low-cost, light-attack aircraft the U.S. and international allies could use to fight terrorists in the Middle East.

The subcommittee markup would provide $2.15 billion for the Space Launch System, an addition of $212 million over the president’s request.

Bell Helicopter is about to begin tethered ground tests of its V-280 Valor tiltrotor ahead of first flight in September.

Czech aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody has begun assembly of four of its new L-39NG jet trainers in preparation for development and testing of the new-generation aircraft.

Collisions between small-scale unmanned air vehicles and manned fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft could cause critical damage, tests performed by British agencies have found.

Japan’s first privately developed rocket has been scheduled for launch on July 29 by developer Interstellar Technologies (IST).

The U.S. Air Force intends to buy as many as 1,200 GBU-49 Enhanced Paveway II smart bombs from Raytheon to arm the Lockheed Martin F-35A.

Lockheed Martin is developing a new wing for the AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile (Jassm) that could extend its range well beyond 500 nm.

The UK Royal Air Force is studying options to upgrade its Tranche 1 model Eurofighter Typhoons to keep them in service until 2035.

With Paramount Group starting production of its AHRLAC advanced high-performance light reconnaissance aircraft, attention is now switching to the weaponised version, Mwari. Sam Basch reports.