The U.S. Air Force, in the midst of modernizing its bomber fleet, launched a competition on May 19 for 608 engines to keep the B-52 Stratofortress in business beyond 2030. Aviation Week editors Jen DiMascio, Steve Trimble and Guy Norris discuss the competition and what's driving the global resurgence in platforms with firepower.
Leidos will design and demonstrate the autonomy platform that will be integrated into and control the U.S. Air Force’s future family of Skyborg unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has announced.
Launch service companies could be given the discretion to decide the optimal launch plan to support the 30 satellites in Tranche 0 of the Space Development Agency’s future military surveillance and communications architecture in low Earth orbit, the agency said May 20.
The U.S. Navy has selected Leonardo’s TH-119 training helicopter despite being underbid by Airbus by $85 million, documents released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office reveal.
Leonardo’s Osprey active electronically scanned array flat panel radar is to equip a pair of Beechcraft King Air maritime surveillance aircraft operated for the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).
NASA’s Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return mission team is relaxing previous plans to descend to the surface of its target, called Bennu, to gather surface pebbles and soil for return to Earth, in part due to work constraints imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
British satellite launcher firm Skyrora has undertaken a full static fire test of its Skylark-L rocket, the first test of this scale since the UK’s Black Arrow program 50 years ago.
LONDON—Four UK space companies have teamed up to form a consortium to secure roles in British government programs as the country looks to grow its presence in space.
Two of the U.S. Defense Department’s most advanced hypersonic programs have fallen months behind schedule, the head of the Pentagon’s Research and Engineering branch confirmed on May 20.
A U.S. Navy request for information for a land-based aircraft to replace the Boeing T-45 may not represent the final requirement when the request for proposals is released, the service’s top acquisition official said on May 20.
NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 20 for final preparations ahead of launch next week to test SpaceX’s Crew Dragon system.
NASA has renamed its struggling Wide Field Infrared Space Telescope in honor of the late Nancy Grace Roman, a longtime pioneering woman astronomer sometimes referred to as the “Mother of Hubble.”
Boeing, which was shut out of nearly $1 billion of NASA funding to develop human-class lunar landers, said it does not plan to protest the awards, which went to teams led by Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX.
