Defense

The Launch Challenge, intended to show “anywhere, anytime” capability to launch smallsats to LEO, ended without the prize money claimed.

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

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

"Ames Research Center is temporarily on mandatory telework status with restricted access to the center until further notice,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said March 9.

A top F-35 program official shared an operational anecdote highlighting the aircraft’s latent capability against surface-to-air missile systems.

Sikorsky has sent CH-53K King Stallion training devices to a U.S. Marine Corps base in preparation for receiving students to learn how to fly and repair the heavy-lift helicopter.

BWX Technologies, Westinghouse Government Services and X-energy each received contracts to start a two-year design phase under Project Pele.

MADISON DEARBORN PARTNERS and COVANT MANAGEMENT agreed to acquire AEVEX AEROSPACE (ISR solutions) from Trive Capital.

Thanks to an emerging global geostationary satellite alliance among NASA, ESA and South Korea, experts will be able to obtain hourly measurements of atmospheric pollutants.

SpaceX’s final Dragon 1 capsule reached the International Space Station (ISS) early March 9 to deliver a 4,300-lb. cargo.

Assessments of red romaine lettuce grown aboard the International Space Station suggest astronauts could cultivate and consume their own fresh vegetables.

Oryu’s lithium-ion battery replaces the lead-acid batteries of earlier Soryu-class submarines.

New data from independent arms trackers show U.S. defense prime contractors and other weapon providers grew their arms exports by 23% in the second

The results of the work will be a factor in any eventual decision on whether to attach finlets on the sides at the rear of the aircraft.

As part of its efforts to restructure its business, exit from non-core entities and find new markets for its defence and high-tech products and services, Denel is currently at an advanced stage to exit and wind up its aerostructures manufacturing business.

Belgium’s H3 Defence Solutions was showing off its Cessna 208 Caravan demonstrator – dubbed Icarus-X – at the Dubai Airshow in mid-November. Alan Warnes explains why the aircraft is very much a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The design is for a considerable aircraft with a span of 16 m. But funding is needed.

Companies such as Teledyne, TransDigm and Heico are leading a breed of A&D players with “horizontal” external growth strategies and impressive track records.

Norway electrifies; Boom slips; repairing satellites; GoFly unfinished; Joby flies for NASA; fluidic propulsion.

Elbit Systems of America will install pylon-based infrared missile warning systems for Air National Guard F-16s.

This will be the first Angara launch since 2014, when Russia tested two variants from its Plesetsk military spaceport.

The five-year spending plan for the Advanced Battle Management System comes with some new and unique strings attached.

As the U.S. Defense Department’s Project Pele nears contract awards to develop a deployable nuclear reactor design, defense officials have revealed a separate project now underway to demonstrate a commercially developed 2MWe (megawatt electrical) nuclear reactor on a U.S. military installation by 2027.

A independent team that analyzed software errors during the debut flight test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner recommended 61 actions that Boeing and NASA should take before the capsule flies again.

SpaceX’s Elon Musk may have stunned the Air Force Association with his statement that the time for manned fighter aircraft has passed. Aviation Week editors explain why that was shocking – and why it wasn’t.