Defense

Fighter aircraft have never been so in demand since the Cold War, but ambiguity clouds details for the next generation of aircraft.

Private equity investor Main Street Capital Holdings on Dec. 18 said it has created a new company, Compass Precision, to acquire precision metal manufacturers, including in the aerospace and defense sector.

General Electric is by far the world’s largest manufacturer of military engines, with 21,806 in service in 2019, 30.7% of the global market.

France has begun armed reconnaissance missions in Central Africa with its General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned air systems.

Private equity investors Main Street Capital Holdings on Dec. 18 said it created a new company, Compass Precision, to acquire precision metal manufacturers.

The U.S. Air Force has named the MH-139A utility helicopter the Grey Wolf.

The Pentagon acquisition executive and her Indian counterpart have agreed to a U.S.-India Defense Technology Initiative.

A Soyuz-2 launcher operated by Arianespace from Kourou, French Guiana, placed five satellites into orbit on Dec. 18.

Honeywell is partnering with iTRACE and SecureMarketing to fight counterfeit activity in the e-commerce market of aerospace products using blockchain tech.

Five months after being sidelined as NASA’s chief of human spaceflight, William Gerstenmaier has left the agency.

Although market research has started to replace the USAF's E-4B NAOC fleet alone, the search continues for a single aircraft that could replace not only the NAOC but also U.S. Navy’s E-6B TACAMO fleet and the C-32A “Air Force Two” executive airlift fleet.

The second of five RQ-4Ds destined for NATO’s Alliance Ground Surveillance Force has been delivered to Italy.

Leonardo has begun flight tests of the latest iteration of its Osprey active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.

The company has tested miniaturized radar warning receiver technology in support the UK’s Tempest fighter.

With finance ministry approval, the defense ministry has achieved its aim of putting a line for Future Fighter development in the budget.

Indigenous fighter development and F-35 acquisition figure heavily in South Korea’s 2020 defense budget, which will rise faster than GDP.

China’s new bomber was expected in 2019. Its appearance in 2020 is likely. A new fighter should appear no later than 2035, says Avic.

After transferring production technology to OneWeb Satellites’ plant in Florida, Airbus is looking for other applications.

Though tensions with Pakistan remain high, New Delhi is struggling to spend more to modernize.

Virgin Galactic conducts sole U.S. human spaceflight in 2019.

Air-launched, anti-missile interceptors and defensive lasers are set to take the next step in development.

Amazon plans to open an R&D and prototype manufacturing center in Redmond, Washington, to oversee development of its Kuiper sat broadband program.

Russia’s new bomber will enter service in 2027, a senior Ministry of Defense official said.

Fielding counter-small unmanned aircraft systems is a priority for the Pentagon in 2020.

The DOD has launched a new effort to streamline the process for getting information about hostile radar emitters into the threat libraries of combat platforms.