Defense

NASA delays its CRS-2 contract, again. Italy is in line to become the next nation with armed Reapers. The FAA scrambles to create a UAV registration system. And the Ex-Im bank bill nears final passage.

The 10-year global military aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market will be worth $716 billion through 2025.

Charged solar wind particles have changed Mars from a planet that was warmer and wetter to the cold desert we see today, data from a new NASA probe show.

NASA has set a new date for selecting one or more private space-launch providers to deliver cargo to the International Space Station in the second round of its Commercial Resupply Services competition.

The first Israeli air force C-130H to be fitted with modernized Elbit Systems avionics has flown for “dozens” of hours in its flight test program.

More complete design work and technology maturity will make the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy a more stable and affordable program, U.S. Navy officials say.

U.S. warship patrols to prove the Navy’s freedom of navigation in the South China Sea in defiance of Chinese territorial claims could possibly lead to Japan buying new aircraft for such missions, a Japanese scholar says.

The Indian and Russian armies will focus on counterterrorism in this year’s joint “Exercise Indra-2015,” to be held Nov. 7-Nov. 20.

The next version of South Korea’s new surface-to-air missile will complement L-SAM in the anti-ballistic-missile role.

We could tell you all about the LRS-B­—and a related secret prototype—but then we’d have to use a cliched quote from a mediocre 1980s movie.

With a growing list of capabilities, Airbus says it is certain of export success for the A400M, although it needs to iron out details.

France plans to compensate for A400M availability by moving up the acquisition of Airbus MRTT aerial refueling tankers. The air force is also weighing a plan to renovate part of its existing C-130H fleet and to purchase new or used C-130s to meet urgent operational needs for transport and refueling.

Dassault Aviation has asked its supplier base to increase production based on an anticipated tripling of output by late 2018—a response to sudden interest in the Rafale outside of France, somewhat of a gamble for the French manufacturer.

A330 MRTTs will be available until at least 2025 as newly built aircraft, with the A330-200 staying in production for the purpose, says Airbus. This follows studies of an MRTT adaptation of the A330-200’s successor, the A330-800.

F-35A fires inflight; U.S. plans to sell guided-bomb kits to Turkey; report forecasts unmanned ground vehicle growth; Egypt finally receives F-16s.

Very few details about Northrop Grumman's Long-Range Strike Bomber have been released officially, but enough is known to make high-confidence estimates of some of the project’s key features.

Northrop Grumman undercut its rivals’ price to win the bomber contract, and the Pentagon’s requirements could have given it the chance to do so.

Italy is in line to be the second country after the U.K. to receive U.S.-made MQ-9 Reapers that can fire weapons.

The U.S. House and Senate armed services committees have reached a new accord on the fiscal 2016 defense authorization bill that trims nearly $5 billion from the bill’s original total.

Pentagon officials plan to keep up destroyer patrols to prove the U.S. Navy’s freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

NASA is seeking astronaut applicants, the agency’s first hires since 2013.

Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) 6, the future USNS Brunswick, recently completed acceptance trials, the U.S. Navy says.

Lockheed Martin expects a full program of 134 F-16 upgrades will fit into a cash-strapped South Korean modernization project that has been delayed again.

While the U.S. Marine Corps seems to be generally on the right track with the acquisition of its Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV), there is some risk, the GAO says.

NASA’s Johnson Space Center will provide safety training and other support services to the Houston Airport System under a Space Act Agreement signed Nov. 4.