Defense

A U.S. guided missile destroyer has passed within 12 nm of Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly Islands, which are under dispute by China and its neighbors.

Controllers operating the New Horizons Pluto probe have confirmed that the nuclear-powered spacecraft completed the second of four maneuvers designed to take it past a lone Kuiper Belt Object at the beginning of 2019.

A proposed South Korean air and missile defense system comparable with the Lockheed Martin Thaad will employ a large trailer-mounted radar with an active, electronically scanning array.

“The launch target for GSLV-Mk. 3 is December 2016. That will be followed with a second launch in December 2017,” says A.S. Kiran Kumar, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization.

Boeing’s KC-46A has been selected for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s (JASDF) new air refueling tanker.

Saab says it is ready for volume production of a fighter radar using gallium-nitride technology in an active electronically scanned array (AESA).

Funding cuts have curtailed U.S. Navy aircraft maintenance, exacerbating carrier wing gaps, a recent Hudson Institute report says.

The forward deployed expeditionary submarine tender Emory S. Land recently completed its Fleet Maintenance Activity Assessment (FMAA) in Guam.

Turbofan surprises testers and survives first controlled on-wing test of volcanic ash ingestion, providing data on what happens inside a jet engine flying though an ash cloud.

In September 2014, the U.S. Air Force began fielding an Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System

Aviation Week editors Senior International Editor Bill Sweetman and Naval Editor Michael Fabey break down the issue with the V-22 engine that investigators say brought down an Osprey in May.

The next major review of the SLS will come in 2017, when design certification will compare vehicle hardware with the design, leading to a flight readiness review in 2018.

Lockheed Martin believes “active safety” technology it has developed to help convoy drivers avoid collisions is ready for deployment now.

A lack of inflight and cockpit data continues to shroud the cause of a police helicopter crash that killed 10 people in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2013.

The U.S. Navy’s new Undersea Warfighting Development Center will help the service prepare to control that realm, a Navy vice admiral says.

An upgrade of the South Korean MSAM system aimed at dealing with tactical ballistic missiles will exploit most of the current equipment in modified form.

A micro-light aircraft of the Indian Army Aviation Corps crashed Oct. 21 minutes after taking off near Shillong in the northeastern state of Meghalaya on a routine sortie.

Since implementing a new surface cargo route between the U.S. and Spain, U.S. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Sigonella Site Rota cut cargo transit time and costs in half by mid-October.

U.S. refusal to allow access to the four key technologies for KF-X has resulted in a political furor in South Korea.

Foreign F-35 operators are being compelled to fund U.S. software laboratories that generate data crucial to the fighter’s ability to identify new radio-frequency threats.

F-35 official hints Canada’s suppliers could lose work if it opts out of the program; FCC proposes rules that could enable 5G wireless service; foreign investment in aerospace is rising.

Defense Department signals it is weighing how to open up the aerospace sector to encourage broader competition from lower-level players.

President Barack Obama vetoed the defense authorization bill on Oct. 22. It is his fifth veto since taking office, but could be the first of many.

Lockheed Martin starts building a 60-kW fiber-laser weapon for the U.S. Army, considers growth to 120 kW and sets its sights on Air Force and Navy high-energy laser opportunities.

French officials have confirmed that both France and the U.K. will likely pursue the joint development of a next-generation cruise and anti-ship missile.