Defense

Stabilizing the production system and securing a funded, long-term upgrade plan are now the main objectives for the F-35’s propulsion system.

Israel’s Upper Tier Layer appeared to reach fruition with Arrow 3 deployment, but the program is continuing to advance.

Early second-stage shutdown dooms ride-share mission.

A 2017 call to embrace a new, digital-based tack to design and production is guiding Boeing’s path to future defense and space contracts.

U.S. manufacturer Skydio eyes commercial and military customers, claiming its autonomy technology is unrivaled.

Fifty-two days after launching a crewed capsule to space on May 30, SpaceX recovered the first stage again during a mission to deliver a South Korean military communications satellite to space

The House fiscal 2021 defense policy bill is on the floor this week, featuring 407 new amendments approved by the Rules Committee.

SpaceX is aiming for its quickest turnaround between reflights of a Falcon 9 booster, with launch of a South Korean military communications satellite poised to fly as early as July 20 using the same first stage that carried NASA astronauts into orbit on May 30.

Nationalizing the industrial base to design, manufacture and sustain new fighters and bombers is not currently official Trump administration policy. But the topic dominated headlines last week anyway.

The appearance of a test airframe for the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) ASM-3 this month shows that the Japanese have worked through at least five configurations for the supersonic anti-ship missile.

The Netherlands has suspended operations with its NH90 naval helicopters following a fatal accident in Aruba.

Indonesia has approached Austria as a potential buyer for the country’s unwanted Eurofighter Typhoons.

The UK has brought another seven aerospace companies into the Team Tempest consortium to develop technologies for a future UK-led combat air system.

The British government has signed a long-awaited contract with Airbus for the next-generation Skynet communications satellite.

Leaps in computing power, sensors and weapons will benefit the F-35 in the next eight years—if Lockheed can keep modernization on track.

Selected U.S. military contracts from the past week.

News in brief

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

The United Arab Emirates’ first interplanetary spacecraft began a seven-month journey to Mars on July 20 following a successful launch aboard a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ H-IIA rocket.

NASA has resumed preparations for a key hot fire test of the first Space Launch System (SLS) core booster, but the agency is keeping a wary eye on coronavirus cases striking members of the Mississippi-based test team, Administrator Jim Bridenstine said on July 17.

The U.S. Space Force is asking industry what it needs to improve launch ranges on both the East and West coasts.

Missile manufacturer MBDA has delivered a trio of Environmental Data Gathering (EDG) rounds to the UK defense ministry to support the integration of the Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile on the Lockheed Martin F-35B.

The U.S. Navy is conducting market research for the design, manufacture, test and delivery of the second block of a mine countermeasures system that will operate from an MQ-8C Fire Scout.

The Pentagon has awarded Amfuel $14.9 million via the Defense Production Act Title III Agreement to strengthen the domestic aviation industrial base.

NASA’s long-running development of the Orion crew capsule for the safe launch and re-entry of up to four astronauts on missions to the Moon and Mars fails to account for more than $17 billion in related costs, a July 16 inspector general’s (IG) audit shows.