Defense

NASA and SpaceX are retargeting launch of the crewed Demo-2 flight test for 3:22 p.m. EDT May 30 after dicey weather at Kennedy Space Center prompted a scrub 16 min. before a liftoff attempt on May 27.

A new proposal to prototype and field palletized munitions on U.S. Air Force C-17s and C-130s starting as early as next year is under discussion by the Air Staff despite recent objections over such a concept made by the head of Global Strike Command.

The U.S. Navy has expanded a search for a new multi-engine, fixed-wing training system to include remanufactured aircraft, Naval Air Systems Command said on May 26.

SpaceX plans to evaluate a new dimming feature called VisorSat for its growing global constellation of Starlink broadband connectivity satellites, whose disruptive brightness in the night sky has raised the ire of professional and amateur astronomers.

Finland has made formal requests to the U.S. for Foreign Military Sales of both the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet and the Lockheed Martin F-35 as part of the country’s HX fighter procurement process.

Airbus has certified automatic low-level flight capability for the A400M, clearing another hurdle in the development of the airlifter’s tactical capabilities.

Concerns about deficient and delayed KC-46As for the U.S. Air Force have spread beyond the Senate’s defense-focused committees.

AIRBUS has secured certification for its Automatic Low Level Flight capability (visual conditions) for A400M; test flights involved operations down to

TRIUMPH SYSTEMS & SUPPORT extended MRO contract for an international CH-47 Chinook fleet for six more years.

Zipline and Novant Health announced on May 27 that they have received emergency approval from the FAA to fly medical supplies by drone to a hospital north of Charlotte, North Carolina, to support its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

With preparations for SpaceX’s first human spaceflight drawing to a close, the company's President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell talks with Aviation Week & Space Technology space editor Irene Klotz about lessons learned for Starship and plans for the rollout of Starlink.

Commercial aviation disruption spreads to defense supply chains as crisis deepens.

Musk talks to Aviation Week & Space Technology Space Editor Irene Klotz about finally getting to human spaceflight and what’s ahead.

Launch of NASA astronauts on the flight test comes nine years after the last U.S. human orbital spaceflight.

News in brief

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

The Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) KT-1 Woongbi is a South Korean turboprop basic flight trainer powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-62 engine supplying 950 shp (708 kW) to its four-blade propeller.

After 18 years, 89 launches and thousands of tests, SpaceX attempts human spaceflight.

Anniversaries are for taking stock, so the 10th anniversary of the Boeing X-51A’s first flight on May 26 is a good time to inspect the finances of the experimental scramjet-powered vehicle’s successor.

VIRGIN ORBIT, CA conducted launch demonstration of air-launched rocket off of modified 747-400, but after successful early stages, including a clean

LIEBHERR-AEROSPACE LINDENBERG has Leonardo contract to overhaul 62 primary flight control actuators for the Eurofighter.

KAMAN UK delivered 80,000th rear fuselage packer to BAE Systems for F-35; packers, plus 1,000 plenum ducts, have been used to produce >500 aircraft.

Piaggio Aerospace has been given a €125 million ($137.2 million) maintenance contract by the Italian defense ministry to look after the country’s fleet of P.180 turboprop utility aircraft.

The Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands has performed its first unmanned air system delivery to a ship in a demonstration that could reduce pressures on the transport network around Europe’s largest seaport.

The U.S. Air Force’s top general in Africa Command warned on May 26 that Russia’s next move in Libya could be to deploy permanent, long-range air defense systems.