Defense

By Steve Trimble
New threats posed by advances in heat-seeking missiles have prompted new development efforts by the U.S. Army and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to protect helicopters and fighters.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Irene Klotz
Northrop Grumman’s Minotaur IV rocket ended a nearly three-year hiatus with a July 15 launch from Wallops Island, Virginia, to put a quartet of classified satellites into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
Space

By Tony Osborne
The UK has placed a £65 million ($81.5 million) order for its first three General Atomics MQ-9B Protector medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air systems.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Irene Klotz
With bleak weather forecast, the United Arab Emirates’ Mars Hope mission, which was slated to lift off on July 17 from Japan’s Tenegashima Space Center, faces a second launch delay.
Space

By Tony Osborne, Lee Hudson
The British Army and U.S. Army are to align modernization efforts to enable them to operate more seamlessly. The plans include creating what officials call a “closer affiliation” on the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift rotorcraft modernization initiative.
Vertical Lift

By Bradley Perrett
China has begun volume production of a second version of the Avic Chengdu J-20 fighter, one fitted with thrust vectoring, the South China Morning Post reported.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Bradley Perrett
The first entirely Chinese mission to Mars may depart within two weeks, following arrival of the spacecraft at the Wenchang launch base on Hainan island.
Space

By Steve Trimble
A series of 25 flight tests with T408 engines on a CH-47 testbed was set to begin this summer, but the Army and industry demonstration team is still copping with the impact of the pandemic on a long list of pre-flight tasks.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
The Defense Innovation Unit’s plans call for establishing an unmanned orbital outpost in low Earth orbit initially.
Space

By Steve Trimble, Guy Norris
President Matthew Bromberg on COVID-19, production increases and future development efforts.
A&D Week 2020

Recent market intelligence items for aerospace & defense professionals.
Defense

News in brief
Defense

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

By Mark Carreau
The commercial human lander system is a critical part of the Trump administration’s directive that NASA accelerate its return to the surface of the Moon with human explorers from 2028 to 2024.
Space

JAPAN GROUND SELF DEFENSE FORCE took delivery of its first V-22 Osprey.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
The House Appropriations Committee on July 14 approved by a vote of 30-22 its mark of the fiscal 2021 defense funding bill, which likely will be vetoed by President Donald Trump.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
The twin-engine T-7A is designed to train future U.S. Air Force fighter pilots, but is demonstrating “fighter-like” performance itself, Boeing said.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Air Force has divulged additional details on how the future MQ-9 replacement will operate and may expand its mission set by featuring an air-to-air weapon.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Mark Carreau
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hayabusa 2 asteroid sample return mission will drop off materials from the asteroid Ryugu as it passes by Earth on Dec. 6 Japan time.
Space

By Irene Klotz
Poor weather at Japan’s Tenegashima Space Center is prompting a delay of the United Arab Emirates’ Mars Mission to no earlier than July 17.
Space

BOEING received $1.2b USAF contract for first lot of eight F-15EXs for delivery from 2021; program calls for up to 144 aircraft.
Defense

By Molly McMillin
Textron Aviation told employees July 14 that it plans to lay off about 800 employees in Kansas, mostly at its facilities here.
Marketplace

As part of Flight Paths Forward, Aviation Week's Managing Editor of Technology, Graham Warwick, sits down with Tim Grayson, the director of DARPA's Strategic Technology Office, who explains how the agency is pioneering the development of breakthrough technologies.
Aerospace

AUSTRALIA will spend A$87m ($61m) improving facilities at the joint U.S.-Australian Space Surveillance Telescope at Naval Communications Station
Defense

Australian air taxi startup AMSL Aero plans to build a flight-test center at Narromine in New South Wales thanks to an A$950,000 ($660,000) grant from
Defense