Defense

Lockheed Martin is hoping that the maturing threat of hypersonic re-entry vehicles from ambitious adversaries will spark interest in the company’s dormant plan to design a more powerful booster for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) air defense system.

The U.S. Air Force has chosen RAF Lakenheath in the U.K. as its first base for the F-35A in Europe, and announced a significant upheaval in the USAF’s basing structure.

China regularly cites rising personnel and training costs as the reason for its growing defense budget; the buildup of a professional noncommissioned officer corps is a visible sign of such cost pressures. However, the country is investing in a broad program of advanced weapons development as it ratchets up military activities, in its “near abroad” and globally.

Agni V test is set to prove India can launch a ballistic missile from a canister, giving its nuclear-deterrent force a new level of road mobility.

Airbus’s advanced X4 helicopter, under consideration for the Japanese army’s UH-X program, could introduce Japan to joint development of arms exports.

SpaceX is the first company to undergo the new certification process with the goal of garnering work for its Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket.

The MRO assignments signal a path toward financial return for the partner nations investing in the F-35 program as well as progress in its maturity.

To address new and emerging threats, the Defense Department is finalizing its long-range research and development plan, focusing on technologies that are flexible and will not pose procurement and cost issues.

Boeing delivered 179 aircraft and five satellites in 2014, representing a relatively strong year despite continuing cutbacks in U.S. military and space spending.

The U.S. Air Force and SpaceX are now targeting midyear for full certification of the launch upstart’s Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket to loft the most precious Pentagon payloads into orbit.

AAR, a provider of aviation services has been awarded a five-year, approximately $72 million Complete Logistics Support (CLS) Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract to sustain a fleet of C-130H aircraft on behalf of the Afghan Air Force.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has slipped the launch of its fifth commercial resupply services mission to the international space station to Jan. 9 at the earliest following an issue with a thrust vector control actuator which stopped the countdown seconds before liftoff on Jan 6 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Although the Lockheed Martin F-35 project will continue to dominate the direction of the global fighter market—and is slated for its operational debut with the U.S. Marines this year—new fighters in China and Russia are also nearing their in-service milestones.

Going Concerns, a new column in Aviation Week, monitors the paradigm shift in the A&D sector. No one can know precisely where things are going, but we’ve seen enough before to know we’re heading somewhere new.

Despite budget crunch, the U.S. is eyeing a redesigned kill vehicle and Pacific radar for homeland missile defense.

The procurement strategy for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s new Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle likely will be released with the fiscal 2016 budget plan.

The Royal Air Force of Oman is believed to have ordered Robinson R44 helicopters to fulfil training needs with its air force. The Omanis follow the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) who ordered eight Robinson R44 Raven II helicopters, becoming only the fifth military operator of the type.

Airbus is urging Japan to base its next army utility helicopter on the X4, an advanced rotorcraft that the European manufacturer is developing for the civil market.

An onboard oxygen-generating system designed indigenously for India fighter aircraft is ready for final trials.

2014 was a year in which world peace broke out as long as your standard for conflict was declared and open war between nation-states. The actual picture was very different, with two major wars in the Middle East and a European state facing the real threat of being dismantled.

Airbus and Boeing are jointly attempting to unseat Lockheed Martin from South Korea’s KF-X indigenous fighter program, offering technology from Europe that could not be supplied from U.S. sources, industry officials say.

Expanded Tables Online Download expanded specifications on in-production and under-development unmanned aircraft and search more than 3,100 other systems at AviationWeek.com/specs

Expanded Tables Online Download expanded specifications on in-production and under-development military transports and search more than 3,100 other systems at AviationWeek.com/specs

The renewal of Germany’s rotary-wing fleet is being given a top priority as the country resumes spending on defense equipment. Officials have been charged with closing an €8 billion ($10 billion) deal, pending since March 2013, with Airbus Helicopters.

According to company officials, the T-X Hawk is likely to feature an F-35-style single screen display in both the front and rear cockpits. It will also have a structurally different wing with fewer pylons—five instead of the current seven