Defense

By Tony Osborne
Lockheed Martin and European missile manufacturer MBDA have submitted their proposal to use the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) to meet the needs of Germany’s TLVS program.
Defense

By Molly McMillin
Embraer is cutting nearly 1,500 employees from its workforce in Brazil as it moves to reduce costs in the midst of a challenging market.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The Romanian air force has taken formal delivery of its first former-Portuguese F-16s as the service moves to modernize its fighter fleet.
Defense

By Marhalim Abas
An upgrade program for six Leonardo-Finmeccanica Super Lynx helicopters of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) is emerging as a likely alternative to a stalled program to buy six new anti-submarine rotorcraft.
Defense

The goal is to network the combat air forces so that F-35s and F-22s can rapidly share information with fourth-generation jets. But the stovepiped communications architecture of days past complicates this picture.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
AeroVironment’s Blackwing lets a submarine control unmanned underwater vehicles; Lockheed Martin’s Vector Hawk launches from a UUV; and General Atomics’ Predator flies pod that extends data-link networks—UAS show potential to bridge combat domains.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

The U.S. Navy’s MIDS-JTRS terminal and tactical targeting networking technology waveform could equally support the Air Force’s future airborne networking architecture, defense companies believe.
Connected Aerospace

By Jen DiMascio
In this week’s roundup, the U.S. Navy awards the first of two MQ-25 Stingray contracts; Europe takes another step toward a combat UAV; UK Defense Ministry backs space-based manufacturing; and Draken International helps the Japanese test a surface-to-air missile.
Aircraft & Propulsion

The White House has at last approved proposed sales of Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-15E Strike Eagle to two Persian Gulf states.
Defense

NASA is contemplating more long-duration visits to the International Space Station, including some by women, to collect data for eventual human missions to Mars.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Training systems for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which the aerospace giant plans to use to launch International Space Station crews, are coming together at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Defense

Facing an increasingly contested battlespace, Air Mobility Command is looking for follow-on tankers—even stealthy ones—and wants a survivable new tanker to escort fighters and bombers into conflicts.­­­­
Defense

By Mark Carreau
University of Michigan professor Thomas Zurbuchen will join NASA as associate administrator for science.
Defense

By Guy Norris
While everything still hinges on the precooler technology of Reaction Engines’ Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE), the Air Force Research Laboratory sees huge potential for the propulsion concept
Aircraft & Propulsion

As fifth-generation aircraft like the F-35 begin to come online, bringing with them advanced sensors and data fusion capability, the U.S. Air Force is struggling to build a battlefield communications network that will allow fighter jets of different generations to share a common picture.
Defense

By Jay Menon
India is working toward building an SCE-200 semi-cryogenic liquid oxygen/kerosene engine to power advanced mega space launchers aimed at significantly lowering the cost of its space missions.
Defense

By Guy Norris
The FAA is studying with other government agencies and the U.S. Strategic Command the potential launch of a “pilot program” to take over aspects of space traffic management duties which have been performed solely by the military since the start of the Space Age.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
The future for unmanned systems may be in connecting the different domains of air, land and sea, Blackwing maker AeroVironment says.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return mission spacecraft has successfully concluded a week-long checkout of a half dozen primary science and navigational instruments.
Defense

By Maksim Pyadushkin
Russia’s new Ilyushin Il-112V light transport is expected to make its first flight in July 2017, according to the program’s suppliers.
Defense

Air Combat Command’s EQ-4B and E-11A Battlefield Communications Node fleet have served as high-flying combat comms relays for eight years and counting.
Connected Aerospace

AeroVironment developed its Blackwing small unmanned aircraft system to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for submerged submarines. Now the company has demonstrated how its UAS can act as a digital communications relay, enabling the sub to control a swarm of unmanned underwater vehicles.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Mark Carreau
Observations of Jupiter’s intriguing ice- and ocean-covered moon Europa made with the Hubble Space Telescope offer the first visual evidence for geyser-like plumes of salty water erupting 125 mi. into space.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
JP Aerospace has launched the latest subscale prototype in its Airship to Orbit project to provide affordable access to space using lighter-than-air vehicles.
Defense

The U.S. Air Force has completed safety inspections on four ground surveillance aircraft—almost 25% of the fleet—and the jets have returned to flight, the service says.
Defense