Defense

By Mark Carreau
New NASA science projects packed away for launching to the International Space Station late this month will attempt to further the agency’s deep space exploration ambitions.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Components for the first LM-100J commercial freighter version of Lockheed Martin’s C-130J Hercules airlifter are being manufactured, with final assembly to begin in Marietta, Georgia, later this year.
Defense

NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate has picked four concepts for generating electricity from dim sunlight at low temperatures for more study aimed at powering spacecraft without nuclear power sources in deep-space regions that normally require them.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Lockheed Martin’s acquisition of Sikorsky Aircraft last year will play a significant role in the giant defense contractor’s pre-existing goal of deriving a quarter of its annual revenue from international sales, according to Lockheed’s chief executive.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
A failure by helicopter pilots to monitor instruments and make use of onboard automated systems were key factors in the loss of a CHC Scotia-operated AS332L2 Super Puma off the Shetland Islands in 2013, U.K. crash investigators have concluded.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Airbus Helicopters is set to certify a new lightweight health and usage monitoring system (HUMS), finally opening the technology to light helicopter operators.
Defense

By Jay Menon
Ahead of its certification firing trials, the weaponized configuration of India’s indigenous Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) TD-3 recently executed the successful firing of 70-mm rockets.
Defense

A Russian Proton-M/Briz-M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 14 carrying the European-Russian ExoMars 2016 mission en route to the Red Planet.
Defense

By Jay Menon
Airbus has offered to transfer the final assembly line of its AS565 MBe Panther from France to India if it wins the bid for the country’s proposed naval utility helicopter (NUH).
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Space marathoner Scott Kelly will retire from NASA on April 1, one month after setting two U.S. spaceflight records aboard the International Space Station and 20 years after his selection to the agency’s astronaut corps.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
French aerospace and defense firm Safran is looking at “potential options” for its security business after announcing plans to sell off its airport explosive detection business.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
An Australian company is proposing retractable floats for the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules to create a U.S. equivalent of the TA600 amphibious aircraft under development by Avic.
Defense

By Maxim Pyadushkin
Russia will decrease its military presence in Syria, where it provides combat support for the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
The National Aeronautic Association has selected the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory team responsible for the Dawn mission to the protoplanet Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres as the recipient of the 2015 Collier Trophy.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
A prototype of a laser system that enables UAVs to downlink data at high speed without complex equipment on the vehicle has been flight tested in the U.K.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
The Airbus Perlan Mission II team has begun pressurized flight tests of the Perlan 2 stratospheric glider ahead of an attempt to set a world altitude record this summer in flights from southern Argentina.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
An attempt to make the first “zero-carbon” flight across the Atlantic in a hybrid solar- and biofuel-powered aircraft has been tentatively scheduled for June.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Intelsat General and L-3 Communications have demonstrated that a two-three times increase in data throughput for unmanned aircraft will be possible using Intelsat’s new-generation Epic communications satellites.
Defense

The future of defense procurement was parsed brilliantly by lauded science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, well more than a half-decade ago.
Defense

By Guy Norris
Development of Boeing Phantom Works’ unmanned undersea vehicle Echo Voyager could lead to parallel advances for UAVs.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Laser comms for UAVs; fly by spot beam; Perlan 2 feels the pressure; Eraole set for Atlantic attempt.
Defense

Kepler Mission Manager Charles Sobek said March 11 the observatory will repoint itself into its forward velocity vector “instead of looking toward where it’s been” beginning in April.
Defense

By Maxim Pyadushkin
The Russian government has approved the privatization of two key defense companies that are sanctioned by the West: Russian Helicopters and avionics specialist Concern Radioelectronic Technologies (KRET).
Defense

By Jen DiMascio
Since Feb. 11, the U.S. Air Force has been trying to regain command and control of one of its weather satellites, Defense Meteorological Program (DMSP) Flight 19.
Defense

The Defense Department (DOD) follows U.S. laws for UAVs, but must pass up potential training opportunities as a result, according to a recent report by the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) office.
Defense