Defense

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

By Graham Warwick
After handing over distribution of its Quantix commercial drone to a Canadian specialist, AeroVironment has launched a military version of the highly automated small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for its core defense customers.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Lee Hudson
Despite the spread of the novel coronavirus, the U.S. Navy is preparing to embark Carrier Strike Group 12 and Carrier Air Wing 8 for cyclic flight operations in May that include the first-ever movement of weapons on the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Tony Osborne
Germany’s future F/A-18 Super Hornet fleet will be a “bridge” capability for a future platform, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has said, after finally confirming the U.S.-built aircraft will form part of a fleet that will go on to replace the Panavia Tornado.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Irene Klotz
A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on April 22 to deliver a seventh batch of the company’s Starlink communications satellites into low Earth orbit.
Commercial Space

By Steve Trimble
Military secrecy—not poor U.S. Air Force planning—is behind the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) critical assessment of the acquisition strategy for the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said on April 20.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Steve Trimble
Senior U.S. defense officials raised alarms on April 22 about a two-day-old decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant Ligado Networks a slice of the spectrum adjacent to the military-operated GPS network.
Space

By Steve Trimble
A ground-launched hypersonic cruise missile could become part of the Pentagon’s portfolio of maneuvering weapons with speeds over Mach 5, Mark Lewis, the director of Defense Research and Engineering for Modernization, said on April 22.
Defense

By Irene Klotz
The premature shutdown of one of nine Merlin engines that powered a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit last month was caused by cleaning fluid trapped inside a sensor and igniting, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on April 22.
Space

By Graham Warwick
When life gives you lemons, the adage goes. And when the planned kickoff of the U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime program at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, was canceled because of COVID-19, the service decided to make lemonade, turning the launch into a five-day virtual event.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Molly McMillin
Textron Aviation has delivered two Cessna Citation Latitude midsize business jets configured for flight inspection missions to Kanematsu Corp., owned by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
Marketplace

Nigerian Air Force celebrated the maiden flight of its first A-29 Super Tucano this week. The armed variant of the military trainer carried out the mission by the Embraer profuction facility at Jacksonville Florida.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Boeing is reorganizing top managers and their duties, the company said late April 21, in what is the first headquarters overhaul under relatively new CEO and president David Calhoun.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Mark Carreau
NASA's New Frontiers mission edges closer to sampling the asteroid Bennu.
Space Symposium

North America Lockheed Martin said April 3 it will double the amount of accelerated payments it makes to smaller suppliers as the world wrestles with
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Germany will order a combined fleet of Eurofighters and U.S.-made F/A-18 Super Hornets to replace its aging Panavia Tornado.
Aircraft & Propulsion

JAPAN AIR SELF-DEFENSE FORCE took delivery of first two Cessna Citation Latitudes configured for flight inspection missions (to ensure the integrity
Defense

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. Marine Corps has delivered eight newly-manufactured Lockheed Martin F-35Bs to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, replacing the original batch of short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing fighters that first arrived in 2017, the service announced on April 21.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Air Force has discovered that vertically mounted wiper blades on the KC-135 Stratotanker reduce aircraft drag by about 1% during cruise conditions, potentially saving the service $7 million annually in fuel costs.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Michael Bruno
Lockheed Martin proved April 21 why its is probably the best-positioned company in aerospace and defense to ride out the novel coronavirus outbreak, with the company reporting consensus-beating first-quarter financial results and a positive forecast for 2020.
Budget, Policy & Operations

LOCKHEED MARTIN had $1.7b net profit on $15.7b sales in 1Q20 vs $1.7b on $14.3b in 1Q19; it delivered 22 F-35s, three C-130Js and 15 helicopters vs 26
Aerospace

By Lee Hudson
The Pentagon is investing $133 million to increase U.S. N95 mask production by 39 million over the next 90 days to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Bradley Perrett
A Japanese choice of U.S. partners for development of the Next Generation Fighter has been reported by a second major Japanese newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun, following an article along similar lines last month.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Kim Minseok, Bradley Perrett
The South Korean finance ministry has reiterated that spending shifts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic will not delay deliveries of Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightnings to the country.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Lee Hudson
The Weather System Follow-on satellite completed its critical design review with the U.S. Space Force green lighting Ball Aerospace to enter full production.
Space