Defense

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office is pursuing an “integrated hybrid architecture” for its constellation of intelligence-gathering satellites

Two NASA astronauts return from extended SpaceX flight test to the ISS.

A two-year evaluation has coalesced into plans to field a sea-based interceptor as quickly as possible.

This week, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Benhken splashed down in their SpaceX Dragon capsule in the Gulf of Mexico after two months at the

During a three-day exercise, the U.S. Air Force assessed F-35 tactics and the viability of the fifth-generation fighter to provide access for friendly forces behind enemy lines in support of the B-2 and RQ-170.

A Purdue University spinoff is to test an improved propellant for solid-fuel ramjet propulsion systems in hypersonic weapons under more than $1.1 million in contracts from the U.S. military.

Bell has opened a facility here to support multiple company programs and business areas, including engineering, supply chain, professional manufacturing and corporate services.

U.S. Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett officially swore in Gen. C.Q. Brown Aug. 6 as the 22nd Air Force chief of staff and the first African-American to hold the position.

ICARUS AEROSPACE, Canada introduced clean-sheet, 2-seat (optionally-piloted) TAV twin-turboprop tactical aircraft with planned payload of 8,000 lb and

A portion of the nearly 12,000 U.S. troops withdrawing from Germany may redeploy to Romania or another Eastern European locale, Defense Secretary Mark Esper says.

France has taken delivery of the first of two Beechcraft King Air 350-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms.

Hypersonic aircraft developer Hermeus is working with the U.S. Air Force to evaluate how the company’s Mach 5 concept could be modified into a high-speed executive vehicle, including potentially a presidential transport.

Following the successful launch and operation of Saudi Arabia’s newest commercial communications satellite, SaudiGeoSat-1 (SGS-1), Lockheed Martin has been selected to develop a new ground system to control, manage and operate the satellite.

AVIATION WEEK NETWORK forecasts that maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) demand for Western-designed military transport helicopters will increase

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

KARI plans to send a 300-kg probe to the Moon on a KSLV-2 with solid-propellant boosters.

NRO’s new approach to satellites; Russia’s S-70 acceleration; defining “Attritable” in dollar terms; Collins’ training device.

The U.S. Space Force’s 30th Space Wing and entities in California have entered into an agreement to develop a spaceport and boost commercial launch activity at Vandenberg AFB on the state’s Pacific coast.

The planned ramp-up in flight test activity is intended to prepare the Common Hypersonic Glide Body to transition into an operational weapon system within three years.

The U.S. Army decided in March to concentrate resources on developing the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, which shares the Common Hypersonic Glide Body with the Navy’s submarine-launched Conventional Prompt Strike missile.

Ask the Editors: The F-15EX is a product of digital engineering, but it is not representative of the Digital Century Series initiative.

Teledyne Technologies, a smaller but significant U.S. defense contractor, is unveiling a new British-oriented missiles and explosives business unit, Teledyne Energetics UK, representing the latest move in a push for international diversification.

SpaceX will fly a pair of SES’s new satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket in 2022, with an option for a second flight for an undisclosed third satellite. ULA will launch another two SES spacecraft on an Atlas V, also in 2022, SES announced.

The South African Air Force has (quietly) celebrated its centenary against backdrop of worries that it is in “dire straits”.