Defense

The Department of the U.S. Air Force’s international affairs office recently established a dedicated space division to better align the department with a single strategy for international engagement.

The Pentagon has created the new position of assistant defense secretary for space policy, which Congress directed in the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

Retired NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko fondly recall their launch and docking to the International Space Station 20 years ago.

Speaking to the IDGA Hypersonic Weapons Summit on Oct. 29, Gen. Timothy Ray also suggested the non-nuclear policy for hypersonic weapons could be revisited.

The contract with a $700 million ceiling value could result in orders for up to 2.906 ACES 5 ejection seats over the next decade, beginning with a task order to replace the ACES 2 seats in the Boeing F-15 fleet.

French defense officials are calling for the development of a future medium airlifter for the 2030s that could replace the CASA CN235 and Lockheed C-130H Hercules aircraft in French service.

Ask the Editors: Traditional OEMs are likely to maintain a large role in the future of space.

BOEING was awarded $342m contract mod from USAF to supply third/fourth KC-46As to JAPAN for delivery by mid-2023.

Francisco Gomes Neto talks with Aviation Week in his first interview for the aerospace trade press.

M&A activity among major A&D players is picking up again, but this time they are shedding assets or tacking on specialties.

Bell is looking to technology from its Model 360 Invictus as a potential template for a medium-size single-engine utility platform.

History suggests it takes as long to develop a military medium rotorcraft as for a fighter, so NATO countries have taken the first steps.

Why Honeywell Aerospace’s chief sees a bright future for the industry despite today’s COVID-19 woes.

Fleet Snapshot

Calendar of upcoming events of interest to the aerospace & defense industry.

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

Before the House and Senate defense authorization panels met this week for their first conference negotiation meeting with panel leadership, governors from 14 states urged Congress to prohibit the proposed retirements of U.S. Air National Guard C-130 aircraft.

Both aircraft will be delivered to Japan by June 30, 2023, joining two previously ordered KC-46As.

NASA’s Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return mission spacecraft has successfully secured material gathered last week from the surface of the near Earth object Bennu in the spacecraft’s Sample Return Capsule.

The San Diego-based company announced winning a contract on October 29 for a program that provides professional services for U.S. federal agencies.

Parsons will buy Braxton Science & Technology Group in a deal worth $300 million.

A investigation into what caused a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch abort 2 sec. before liftoff on Oct. 2, delaying delivery of a GPS III satellite into orbit for the U.S. Space Force, is impacting two more SpaceX missions, including the first operational International Space Station crew ferry flight for NASA.

AE Industrial Partners, a private equity firm with an aerospace and defense focus, is growing its military space business with a new acquisition that serves the Pentagon’s desire to tap into small-form, new-space developments.

A new request for information released by the SDA on Oct. 23 narrows the quantity for Tranche 1 to 100-150 satellites for the Transport and Tracking layers combined.

If fielded, the capability could transform the C-17 and C-130 fleets into two of the U.S. Air Force’s most powerful standoff bombers, with the C-17 alone offering one-third more firepower at long range than the 24 JASSM-ER missile capacity inside a Boeing B-1B weapons bays.