Under an unfunded Space Act Agreement, NASA and SpaceX plan to study the feasibility of a commercial Dragon mission to raise the orbital altitude of the 32-year-old Hubble Space Telescope, potentially extending its operations into the 2030s.
The U.S. military services are looking for a range of autonomous aircraft—from expensive high-end aircraft to less costly lower end systems. Aviation Week editors discuss what industry is offering, particularly for mid-range attritable systems, and some of the complications involved with cultivating the new technology.
Senior U.S. Air Force leaders in recent days have weighed in on China’s advancements in its fighter force, criticizing Beijing’s technical prowess but offering some praise for its inventiveness ahead of the upcoming 20th National Congress and the Zhuhai air show.
U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall says he is encouraged by recent test successes for Lockheed Martin’s Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon, despite having previously expressed concern about the program.
Swiss air ambulance operator Swiss Air Rescue-Rega has canceled an order for an advanced variant of Leonardo’s AW169 rotorcraft after the OEM declared it could not develop the aircraft to agreed specifications.
Three Russian cosmonauts descended safely to Earth aboard their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft early Sept. 29, continuing an International Space Station (ISS) crew exchange process that has been extended due to Hurricane Ian’s threat to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
The Spanish Defense Ministry has awarded local industry with contracts to investigate “possible evolutions of the challenges of national defense, the air domain, and will detail possible solutions to face them.”
Stratolaunch is preparing for the first captive-carry flight of the Talon test vehicle on the Roc mother ship, marking a major step toward the start of hypersonic tests.
The National Reconnaissance Office on Sept. 28 increased its work with commercial space companies, awarding six study contracts for commercial radio frequency remote sensing.
European countries are beefing up security around their oil and gas facilities after the European Union and the Danish and Swedish governments declared the damage caused to both Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea as sabotage.
Visiting South Korea’s Sacheon Air Base on Sept. 28 to observe a test flight of the first prototype KF-21, senior Indonesian defense officials said the advancement of the aircraft into flight testing was a “tangible manifestation” of the platform’s development.