Defense

AIRBUS has secured certification for its Automatic Low Level Flight capability (visual conditions) for A400M; test flights involved operations down to

TRIUMPH SYSTEMS & SUPPORT extended MRO contract for an international CH-47 Chinook fleet for six more years.

Zipline and Novant Health announced on May 27 that they have received emergency approval from the FAA to fly medical supplies by drone to a hospital north of Charlotte, North Carolina, to support its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

With preparations for SpaceX’s first human spaceflight drawing to a close, the company's President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell talks with Aviation Week & Space Technology space editor Irene Klotz about lessons learned for Starship and plans for the rollout of Starlink.

Commercial aviation disruption spreads to defense supply chains as crisis deepens.

Musk talks to Aviation Week & Space Technology Space Editor Irene Klotz about finally getting to human spaceflight and what’s ahead.

Launch of NASA astronauts on the flight test comes nine years after the last U.S. human orbital spaceflight.

News in brief

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

The Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) KT-1 Woongbi is a South Korean turboprop basic flight trainer powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-62 engine supplying 950 shp (708 kW) to its four-blade propeller.

After 18 years, 89 launches and thousands of tests, SpaceX attempts human spaceflight.

Anniversaries are for taking stock, so the 10th anniversary of the Boeing X-51A’s first flight on May 26 is a good time to inspect the finances of the experimental scramjet-powered vehicle’s successor.

VIRGIN ORBIT, CA conducted launch demonstration of air-launched rocket off of modified 747-400, but after successful early stages, including a clean

LIEBHERR-AEROSPACE LINDENBERG has Leonardo contract to overhaul 62 primary flight control actuators for the Eurofighter.

KAMAN UK delivered 80,000th rear fuselage packer to BAE Systems for F-35; packers, plus 1,000 plenum ducts, have been used to produce >500 aircraft.

Piaggio Aerospace has been given a €125 million ($137.2 million) maintenance contract by the Italian defense ministry to look after the country’s fleet of P.180 turboprop utility aircraft.

The Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands has performed its first unmanned air system delivery to a ship in a demonstration that could reduce pressures on the transport network around Europe’s largest seaport.

The U.S. Air Force’s top general in Africa Command warned on May 26 that Russia’s next move in Libya could be to deploy permanent, long-range air defense systems.

The UK has begun firing trials of Thales Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) from the Leonardo AW159 Wildcat naval helicopter.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) ninth resupply mission completed a 4-ton cargo delivery to the International Space Station (ISS) early May 25.

Scotland’s National Health Service (NHS) is to trial deliveries by unmanned air systems to speed up logistics between remote medical centers.

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

Selected U.S. military contracts for May 18 U.S. AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Redondo Beach, California, has been awarded a not-to-exceed

Here is a look at the company’s milestones from its 2002 founding to the eve of the manned Crew Dragon launch.

Ask the Editors: The global space economy is projected to exceed $1.1 trillion by 2040, but it is unclear how COVID-19 will affect that.