Defense

By Jen DiMascio, Graham Warwick
X-planes, UAVs and a Cold War footing, this year’s budget request has it all. And Aviation Week’s Graham Warwick and Aviation Week Intelligence Network’s Dan Katz analyze President Barack Obama’s last chance to make change.
Budget, Policy & Operations

After a nearly two-decade decline in European defense budgets, an increase seems likely, driven in large part by Russian aggression and the so-called Islamic State.
Defense

Robotic systems must operate using the same actions we would expect from the judgment and, ultimately, the ethics of a pilot.
Defense

By Jen DiMascio
Bill to overhaul the FAA wins Natca endorsement; Defense experts outline the next president’s national security choices; and NASA official urges space companies to respond faster to consumer demands.
Air Transport

The lack of aircraft and spare parts is curtailing the number of fighters and other airplanes available for proper training, cutting into surge readiness and creating other operational concerns, some of the top officers for U.S. Navy and Marine Corps air operations say.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Arlington Capital Partners, a Washington-based private equity firm focusing in part on aerospace and defense, will buy the defense and security business of iRobot “for up to $45 million,” the companies said Feb. 4.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Airbus Helicopters has downplayed reports in the Polish media that the country’s defense ministry has decided to halt a tender to buy 50 H225M Caracal utility helicopters.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Defense Minister Michael Fallon has confirmed that the U.K. will order two Airbus Defense and Space Zephyr 8 solar-powered, high-altitude, long-endurance UAVs.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft carried out a successful 35-min. trajectory adjustment maneuver on Feb. 3, the first of two needed to keep the probe on course for a July 4 arrival at the Solar System’s largest planet.
Defense

The aviation-centric New Amphibious Assault Ship LHA 6 USS America may create problems for U.S. Marines to move their forces ashore as needed, and the U.S. Navy and Marines are working on new tactics to do the job, a report says.
Defense

China’s missiles may get the headlines, but the People’s Liberation Army’s electronic warfare capabilities may warrant the biggest concern, the Center for Strategic and International Studies says in a recent report.
Defense

India is preparing to conduct the second canister-based trial of the nuclear-capable Agni-V missile by the end of this month, a government official says.
Defense

The European Union launched the EU Naval Force's 'operation Atalanta' in December 2008 as part of its comprehensive approach to Somalia. Dave Oliver reports from Djibouti on its progress to date.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Anglo-French UCAV study enjoys political support as milestones approach.
Defense

F-35s fly with speed and G force restrictions—and most weapon tests needed special treatment to hit the target, according to Pentagon test report.
Defense

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter previewed the fiscal 2017 U.S. defense budget: The $582.7 billion top line will conform to last fall’s bipartisan budget agreement but will also be a “major inflection point” in terms of long-term re-equipment of the force.
Defense

By Jen DiMascio
Digital navigation for GPS?; Air Force One work begins; new P-8A orders; an Israeli-South Korean VTOL UAV team.
Defense

Appointment of a successor to Pentagon director of operational test and evaluation (DOT&E) Michael Gilmore will spark a lobbying war in Washington, fueled by Gilmore’s harsh criticism of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, according to defense analyst Pierre Sprey and Tom Christie, the Pentagon’s first DOT&E.
Defense

Demand for a commercial human facility with International Space Station research capabilities is not a foregone conclusion, and may develop only slowly if at all as the station approaches the end of its service life in 2024 or later, academics and engineers say.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Cosmonauts Yuri Malenchenko and Sergey Volkov retrieved, deployed and conducted experiments outside the Russian segment of the International Space Station during a Feb. 3 spacewalk.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
The critical pressure vessel for the Orion capsule has arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for testing leading up to its use on the first uncrewed flight test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in late 2018.
Defense

U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson is visiting India through Feb. 6 to help deepen maritime partnerships between the two countries, Navy officials say.
Defense

The Taiwan Aviation Safety Council (ASC) successfully deployed a UAV as part of its investigation into the July 23, 2014 crash of a TransAsia Airways ATR-72-500 on the island of Hoko, west of Taiwan.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
NASA space shuttle-era astronauts Brian Duffy and Dr. Scott Parazynski will enter the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame during May 13-14 ceremonies at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex near Cape Canaveral.
Defense

SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. (SJC) has awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin for the JCSAT-17 telecommunications satellite that will be based on the updated A2100 spacecraft bus.
Defense