Defense

Boeing defense chief talks about increased introspection, the impact of COVID-19 on the market and plans for the KC-46.

Another problem has arisen while preparing the Mars 2020 rover for launch, triggering an additional eight-day delay to July 30, NASA said June 30.

Program Dossier: Embraer C-390 Millennium

News in brief

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

The first Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) destined for the Multinational Multirole Tanker Transport Unit (MMU) has arrived at its home base in the Netherlands.

The House Armed Services Committee proposes investing $150 million in space technology development in the chairman’s mark of the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill.

With its interest in reusable rockets growing, Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center agreed to adjust the launch profile so SpaceX could attempt to recover the Falcon 9 first stage on a drone ship.

Some—but perhaps not all—of the U.S. military’s hypersonic weapon prototypes will be ready to enter large-scale production by the second half of the

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) would not support the Pentagon submitting a supplemental funding request to reimburse defense contractors for costs related to the coronavirus.

The Pentagon has finalized the U.S. Space Force’s organizational structure for echelons below the headquarters level, and has announced sweeping changes for the space acquisition structure.

DARPA plans to launch a program to fly an X-plane designed around active flow control.

The U.S. Army expected to take delivery on June 30 of the Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS)-V from Sierra Nevada’s upgrade facility in Hagerstown, Maryland.

The second batch, reportedly totaling 20 aircraft, will be used as lead-in fighter trainers.

U.S.-Spanish startup Skydweller Aero is opening offices in Oklahoma as the company pushes its solar-powered medium-altitude pseudo satellite for potential U.S. government requirements.

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

The civil war in Libya is morphing into a fluid security situation. Russian military aircraft have arrived to support private contractors backed by the Russian

A silver lining of the pandemic is the Federal Reserve’s aggressive lowering of interest rates, which makes federal debt more affordable.

Eager not to see a repeat of the 2014 Gripen referendum, the Swiss government aims to persuade the public of the need for new fighters.

A Republican senator’s proposal in a June 25 amendment to the fiscal 2021 defense authorization bill would allow the U.S. Army to acquire Turkey’s S-400 batteries.

General Atomics has demonstrated the first launch and control of small, air-dropped UAS from an MQ-1C.

The idea of blasting a boost-phase ballistic weapon out of the sky with a high-energy laser mounted on an aircraft has always been ambitious, and it remains so after 20 years of failed attempts.

Mining lunar ice could rein in the cost of future human cislunar space activities as well as expeditions to Mars, according to proponents.

Ask the Editors: Aviation Week data shows the U.S. military operates about three times as many manned aircraft as the Chinese military.

An acceptance ceremony was held at Airbus’ facility in Getafe, near Madrid, on June 29, ready for its delivery flight to the MMU’s main operating base of Eindhoven, Netherlands, planned for June 30.