Defense

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Army awards Bell and Sikorsky risk-reduction contracts for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft program.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Daniel Urchick, Matthew Jouppi
A look at military requirements across the continent that may translate into orders over the next decade.
Aircraft & Propulsion

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aerospace

CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA is temporarily halting work on the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft as it closes the Michoud Assembly Facility in
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Michael Bruno
Former Trump administration UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has resigned from aerospace and defense giant Boeing’s board of directors in opposition to the company’s $60 billion bailout bid, the company said March 19.
Marketplace

By Jen DiMascio
The coronavirus pandemic is putting U.S. defense companies in a bind.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
Aircraft repairs continue as normal despite the novel coronavirus scare at the three sprawling Air Logistics Centers (ALCs), where about 25,000 workers maintain the bulk of the U.S. Air Force aircraft fleet.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Irene Klotz
Launching the Mars 2020 rover, recently named Perseverance, this summer remains among NASA’s highest priorities, despite agency-wide shutdowns of its facilities due to health concerns over the coronavirus disease COVID-19.
Space

By Irene Klotz
NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program, which provides ground processing and launch facilities for the integrated Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft, is in better shape now than when the program was last audited in 2016, but the agency needs to improve cross-program integration and testing, the NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) said March 19.
Space

By Tony Osborne
The UK declared the F-35 operational even though the fleet was suffering from availability, infrastructure, logistics and security issues, auditors have revealed.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Mark Carreau
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy is confident in the well-being of the International Space Station (ISS) and ongoing efforts to soon resume full staffing of the 15-nation orbiting science lab with launches from U.S. soil.
Space

By Mark Carreau
New research based on the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa 2 asteroid sample return mission has revealed the surface of the asteroid Ryugu is composed of a sand-like, cohesionless material, making it essentially a “rubble pile” in space.
Space

By Tony Osborne
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is planning for its Poland-based Aegis Ashore complex to be operational by 2022, four years later than originally planned.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Air Force is launching Puckboard, a software application to automatically plan C-17 Globemaster III aircrew qualification flights, a task that used to take a 10-20-person operations team several days.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Graham Warwick
U.S. startup ThereCraft is developing an unmanned aircraft that can deliver urgent cargo to remote locations with the accuracy of a helicopter but without the need to land or use parachutes.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
A pending U.S. Navy contract will continue development and testing of a congressionally-directed radar upgrade option for the Northrop Grumman E-2D.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Bradley Perrett
Japan is evaluating the rough-field characteristics of the Kawasaki Heavy Industries C-2, exploring a capability for which the airlifter was not designed.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
Ahead of the launch of his new book Harrier 809, aviation author and historian Rowland White joins Aviation Week’s London Bureau Chief Tony Osborne to discuss the story of Britain’s legendary jump jet and its role in the Falklands War.
Check 6

By Tony Osborne
German unions have stepped into the ongoing discussion over Germany’s plan to replace its Panavia Tornado fighter bomber fleet.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Irene Klotz
The mission will mark the first flight of astronauts aboard a U.S. orbital spaceship since space shuttle Atlantis rolled to a stop at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 21, 2011
Space

By Daniel Urchick
AVITATION WEEK NETWORK forecasts that 436 new Western-designed aircraft performing military tanking missions will be built in the next ten years while
Defense

By Steve Trimble
Original estimates for costs, schedules and quantities of the Lockheed Martin F-35 upon contract award in October 2001 proved highly unreliable over
Defense

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Marine Corps has opted to pursue an unmanned family-of-systems instead of having one large expensive air vehicle.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Irene Klotz
The Air Force is expected to announce this summer which companies will supply national security space launch services beginning in 2022.
Space Symposium

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.
Defense