Defense

The U.S. Space Force’s Space Warfighting Analysis Center—its high-level focus group of experts and operators designing future military satellite architectures—is sharing its findings and collecting information from allies in addition to U.S. industry to ensure its plans are not duplicative of partner efforts.

The end goal is to have a battle plan with allies involved by design at the outset, the service’s boss says.

Lockheed Martin’s rapid prototyping division defines new concept for collaboration between crewed and uncrewed combat aircraft.

High-definition 3D maps could pave way for soldier-robot teams.

Lockheed Martin has completed the major assembly step on the first F-16V Block 70/72 fighter to be built in Greenville, South Carolina, moving the single-engine fighter closer to a first delivery in late 2023, the company says in an update posted on social media.

After a monthlong delay, SpaceX’s 25th NASA-contracted resupply mission is prepared for launch to the International Space Station late July 14 from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The upgraded Vega-C, a beefed-up and more flexible version of the Vega light launcher, made its first flight July 13 from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

The upper stage of the Lockheed Martin missile was not tested during the first flight, and only the Northrop Grumman-supplied, first-stage motor was ignited.

The flight test met all primary and secondary objectives, the U.S. Air Force said, without elaborating.

The CEO of Roscosmos State Space Corp. has vowed to ban cosmonauts from working with the European Robotic Arm installed on Russia’s new Nauka science module on the International Space Station.

NASA’s Moon-bound, small Capstone mission satellite has successfully executed a delayed second trajectory correction maneuver.

Boston-based autonomous flight startup Merlin Labs has completed a $105 million Series B round, bringing the total funding raised so far to $130 million.

The NASA- and Northrop Grumman-developed observatory is “probably the most significant engineering feat of our time,” Northrop CEO Kathy Warden tells Aviation Week.

Ireland plans to raise national defense spending almost 50% by 2028 to meet an increased level of ambition for the country’s armed forces.

Hunting hypersonic production capacity; Boeing’s Chinook exports; Turkey tests air-to-air missile; and Northrop’s Rooster rideshare.

The U.S. Defense Department has requested high-level configuration proposals for a Blended Wing Body (BWB) that can be 30% more efficient than the aerodynamics of the Boeing 767 and Airbus A330 and combine with a new generation of propulsion technology to reduce fuel burn more than 60% by 2030 compared to the current technology.

NASA and its partners promise there will be much more to come from the just-commissioned James Webb Space Telescope, following the release of its first five science images on July 12.

A Leonardo official says the company hopes to find additional orders for its AW101 three-engine heavy helicopter as a potential replacement for Russian-built platforms.

Rotorcraft manufacturer Bell says the 360 Invictus helicopter is 90% complete and released pictures of the first competitive prototype carrying a full load of weapons.

Russian state news agency TASS describes the so-called Zmeevik missile, which means “Serpentine,” as an “aircraft carrier killer."

SAFRAN and HINDUSTAN AERONAUTICS agreed to form joint venture to develop, produce and support helicopter engines in support of India’s Ministry of

Aerospace company Thales Group, mobile phone chip maker Qualcomm Technologies and telecommunications company Ericsson plan to test and validate low Earth orbit satellite-based 5G network technologies for mobile phones.

Canada’s CMC Electronics (CMC) will upgrade the avionics of the Republic of Korea Air Force's KAI KA-1 light attack turboprops.

President Biden unveiled the first image marking the start of the James Webb Space Telescope’s long-anticipated initial science campaign on July 11 that featured a stirring, full-color view of the now-vast universe from its earliest and not previously witnessed era.

The U.S. Space Force has awarded Northrop Grumman Space Systems a $22.1 million contract for the Rapid On-orbit Space Technology Evaluation Ring (Rooster), a ridesharing spacecraft that will be used to demonstrate on-orbit refueling technology and other prototypes.