Defense

A record 223 orbital-class rockets lifted off last year, a 20% hike over 2022.

AAR has new multi-year agreement with Ontic to distribute select military products to US DOD, with exclusivity on specified parts.

Russian forces have begun firing North Korean-provided ballistic missiles into Ukraine.

Astrobotic Technology is pitching an innovative strategy for the future mining of the Moon using rocket propulsion for extraction.

U.S. aircraft on Jan. 4 struck and killed the leader of an Iranian proxy group in Baghdad.

The Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility is particularly of interest to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Crane has acquired Vian Enterprises, a supplier of aerospace oil lubrication systems including pumps, valves, fluid regulators and gerotors, for $103 million.

Atlanta-based high-speed system developer Hermeus has completed ground tests of its first fully integrated Quarterhorse “dynamic iron bird” evaluation vehicle.

Details of the speaker programme for the World Defense Show to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia February 4-8 have been released.

The World Defense Show (WDS) will see senior industry figures speak during the five day event.

The Indonesian defense and finance ministries have decided to delay the acquisition of 12 Qatari Dassault Mirage 2000-5s due to “limited fiscal capacity.”

Performance benefits of Unity upgrades that were proved last year will feed into Delta spaceship design as belt-tightening forces cuts in near-term flight rate.

The MiG-UTS will be designed for affordability—in production and operations.

Japanese financing and leasing company SMFL Mirai and JAXA plan to design business concepts for satellite leasing and reselling.

SpaceX opened its 2024 launch manifest on Jan. 2 with a Falcon 9 mission to continue building its Starlink satellite constellation.

Norway is to supply two Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters and a cadre of flight instructors to support the training of Ukrainian pilots in Denmark.

The Pakistan Air Force is planning to acquire the Chinese J-31/FC-31 combat aircraft.

The U.S. Army on Jan. 3 announced it ordered one Bombardier Global 6500, with options for two more.

DARPA has decided to move forward with a new X-plane designed by Aurora Flight Sciences.

A rapidly developed surface-to-air missile system based on MBDA’s Asraam has achieved hit rates of 90% against Russian targets in Ukraine.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Air Force have announced a joint research program on AI for UAVs to operate alongside crewed fighters.

Korea Aerospace Industries announced that it has delivered all 12 FA-50GFs to the Polish Air Force, 15 months after contract signature.

The award to Raytheon/MBDA joint venture Comlog will supply GEM-T missiles to Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, and Spain initially, although NATO says other Patriot users are expected “to benefit from the conditions of the contract.”

New concepts are in the works, such as military areas that move with the activity along a defined trajectory.