Defense

By Steve Trimble
The first production version of the F-35 was ordered in 2007 and delivered four years later.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
Space Systems Command on May 26 ordered eight launches from United Launch Alliance and SpaceX under the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 procurement program.
Commercial Space

By Tony Osborne
Boeing has inducted the first Dutch AH-64D Apache attack helicopter for remanufacture to AH-64E v6 standard.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
Los Angeles-based startup Exosonic will use the Tactical AI suite from Poway, California-based EpiSys Science in a supersonic drone demonstrator being designed for the U.S. Air Force.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
Boeing and KAI re-activated the tooling from storage to produce the new batch of wing sets for the A-10.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Irene Klotz, Mark Carreau
The uncrewed flight test sets the stage for a shakedown flight with astronauts.
Space

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Garrett Reim
The Space Development Agency has awarded a $325 million contract to General Dynamics Missions Systems to establish the ground operations and integration segment for Tranche 1 of the National Defense Space Architecture.
Space

By Brian Everstine
Finland and Sweden joining NATO instantly would enhance the alliance’s military power with capable air forces and increasing acquisition budgets, the nominee to lead U.S. European Command and become the alliance’s Supreme Allied Commander-Europe told lawmakers.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. government has approved a possible sale of 23 Boeing CH-47F Chinook helicopters to the Egyptian Air Force, the Defense Security Cooperation
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Marine Corps will establish an MQ-9 Reaper squadron in Hawaii as it increases its small fleet of the General Atomics remotely piloted aircraft.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Mark Carreau
Though pleased with the outcome of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner’s uncrewed roundtrip test flight to the International Space Station, NASA and its commercial crew partner have much to assess—and perhaps a few items that must be altered—before a crewed version will be able to lift off.
Space

By Steve Trimble
A potential $13.9 billion deal for 36 F-15s was discussed during an official visit by Indonesian Air Chief Marshal Fadjar Prasetyo to his U.S. counterpart last week, the U.S. Air Force said in a May 25 news release.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
A proposal to Uruguay for a potential sale of six L-39NGs has been made by the Czech government through its newly established Intergovernmental Defense Cooperat
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said the company’s offer, focused on the militarized H175M twin-engine super-medium rotorcraft, would “regenerate helicopter manufacturing in the UK."
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
The air-launched Amraam-AXE concept is being developed as a stop-gap solution for fighters that need an beyond visual range air-to-air missile with greater range than the baseline AIM-120 Amraam.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Garrett Reim
LeoLabs argues that government space situational awareness capabilities cannot keep track of the growing number of objects in space.
Commercial Space

By Guy Norris
Test flights of Australian-built scramjet-powered drone targets technology for space launch system and hypersonic defense applications.
Emerging Technologies

By Steve Trimble
A nearly $500 million wave of funding shows investors are intrigued by the commercial opportunities of hypersonic flight.
Air Transport

By Mark Carreau
Boeing’s uncrewed CST-100 Starliner successfully completed a six-day roundtrip test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) May 25, with an undocking, re-entry and parachute descent at White Sands Space Harbor on the grounds of the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
Space

By Brian Everstine
A botched formation approach caused two T-38s to crash upon landing in November 2021 at Laughlin AFB, Texas, shortly after the U.S. Air Force had banned formation landings of the aircraft because of another fatal crash.
Light Attack and Advanced Training

By Irene Klotz
SpaceX continued its weekly launch pace with liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket on May 25 carrying 59 small satellites and hosted payloads, marking the company’s fifth rideshare mission. Following launch at 2:35 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the rocket’s first stage returned to the launch site while the upper stage fired to place the Transporter-5 payloads into a preliminary polar orbit.
Commercial Space

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has awarded its largest-ever commercial imagery contract effort—up to billions over the next decade—to BlackSky, Maxar and Planet at a critical time for the industry.
Space

By Mark Carreau
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner departed the International Space Station’s U S. segment as scheduled, setting up its autonomous return to Earth under parachute at New Mexico’s White Sands Space Harbor late May 25 to end NASA’s six-day Commercial Crew Program Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2).
Space

BOEING, in partnership with KOREAN AAEROSPACE INDUSTRIES, delivered the first new wing set for A-10 Thunderbolt II fleet to Hill AFB, UT for
Defense