Congress intends to keep “very tight eyes” on the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift, which needs to cost below $10,000 per flight hour to be effective, according to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC).
A flurry of nine small satellites has been successfully deployed from the International Space Station, after having been launched to the orbiting science lab aboard SpaceX Dragon and Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply missions in early December and November.
A National Academies study of advanced aerial mobility requested by NASA concludes the commercial cargo market is likely to be an early adopter of autonomous air vehicle technology for rural cargo operations, including “middle mile” distribution and “last mile” package deliveries.
As the U.S. Army pursues an aggressive schedule to downselect to two vendors for an armed aerial scout replacement by the end of March, Sikorsky is arguing the company’s S-97 Raider-X is an affordable option for the service.
A United States Air Force (USAF) C-130J Super Hercules aircraft and Airmen assigned to the 37th Airlift Squadron, 86th Airlift Wing, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, deployed to Senegal and Mauritania to support and participate in Flintlock 2020, the annual African-led military and law enforcement exercise that has strengthened key partner-nation forces throughout North and West Africa, as well as Western Special Operations Forces, since 2005.
If Astra succeeds in placing the DARPA-provided payload into low Earth orbit by March 1, Astra will win $2 million and an opportunity to launch a second time and take the grand prize of $10 million.
Elbit Systems announced on Feb. 18 the winning of a $670 million contract that it could describe only cryptically as a “defense solution” for a country in the Asia-Pacific region.
China is testing an intercontinental-range hypersonic glide vehicle similar to Russian’s deployed Avangard system, U.S. Air Force Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy said in written testimony submitted to Congress.
Cadence Aerospace, a private equity-backed rollup of highly complex structural and engine component and assembly businesses, on Feb. 18 announced the acquisition of Premier Processing
Plans for a satellite launch center on Britain’s Shetland Islands have been boosted by £2 million ($2.6 million) in funding from a private equity firm.
