Defense

By Tony Osborne
The outlook for Eurofighter and F-35 looks bright, but questions remain about the future of the Hawk jet trainer.
A&D Week 2020

By Bill Carey
U.S. small drone manufacturer Skydio said it has raised $100 million in venture capital, which the company will use to accelerate product development and expand into the commercial and public-sector markets.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
BAE Systems says it is working with 40 companies and academia to develop new methods of production that could halve the production time compared to previous programs.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. Air Force is already starting to look at major upgrade options for the F-15EX despite billing the program as having minimal development cost.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Graham Warwick
ANA Holdings, parent company of All Nippon Airways, is cooperating with Japanese startup Aeronext on the development of delivery drones with the goal of beginning commercial operations in 2022-23.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Lee Hudson
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has chosen White House Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios as the acting undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, replacing Mike Griffin.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
The arrival of the first KC-10 at the “boneyard” on July 13 begins a five-year retirement process for the 59-aircraft fleet as the Boeing KC-46 enters service with a capability limited by unresolved deficiencies through at least 2023.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Graham Warwick
Drone delivery company Volansi is to partner with U.S. Special Operations Command to demonstrate its Voly M20 long-range cargo unmanned aircraft under a small business contract awarded by the U.S. Air Force.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Interest in the human and robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars is on the rise—politically influenced budgets, the global economy and COVID-19 pandemic permitting.
Space

By Michael Bruno
The first half of 2020 has been brutal for the aerospace and defense (A&D) sector, and increasingly industry insiders and outside investors are trying to figure out what it means for longer-term prospects.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Bradley Perrett, Kim Minseok
Carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic accounts for 13% of the weight of the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) KF-X fighter, the manufacturer said.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Tony Osborne
The British government and Bharti Global’s joint offer for the OneWeb satellite constellation has been given the nod by U.S. judges.
Space

By Bradley Perrett
The Japanese defense ministry is recommending tighter contracting arrangements for the Next Generation Fighter than applied in the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) F-2 program of the 1990s.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Joe Anselmo, Michael Bruno
Greg Hayes took heat for merging UTC with Raytheon, but critics are silenced as defense has cushioned the company during the pandemic.
Defense

By Thierry Dubois
As Europe strengthens its focus on the environment, ESA prepares for massive spending on new-generation Earth observation satellites.
Space

News in brief
Defense

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

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

By Lee Hudson
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee’s (HAC-D) mark of the fiscal 2021 defense funding bill is encouraging the U.S. Air Force to partner with industry for a turn-key solution for undergraduate pilot training.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Lee Hudson
Fiscal 2021 may be the last time the Pentagon will be able to circumvent its base budget caps by filtering funds through the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Lee Hudson
The Pentagon awarded $13.4 million under Defense Production Act Title III as an investment in the U.S. small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) industrial base.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Lee Hudson
House appropriators are concerned the U.S. Army has not clearly defined the acquisition strategy for mission equipment payloads and sensors for its Future Vertical Lift family of rotorcraft.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Tony Osborne
The Italian Army has taken delivery of the first of two commercial-model Leonardo AW169s in a move that paves the way for the wider introduction of a military version of the rotorcraft.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Lee Hudson
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee (HAC-D) is fully funding the beleaguered F-35 logistics system in its mark of the fiscal 2021 defense funding bill, but lawmakers are blasting the program and describing similarities between it and the troubled KC-46A tanker.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
The Democrat-controlled House Appropriations defense subcommittee agreed to support the higher development cost for the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon in the fiscal 2021 spending bill, but the members do not “intend to approve funding for further cost increases” beyond the latest estimate of $1.364 billion.
Budget, Policy & Operations