Defense

Signing a five-year performance-based logistics contract for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by the start of fiscal 2021 is going to be a “challenge,” a Lockheed Martin executive says.

NASA says it is still “pressing” toward launching the James Webb Space Telescope on schedule in late March 2021.

A streamlined company aims to grow its strength in space services.

Microturbine pioneer UAV Turbines (UAVT) has launched a lightweight, compact turbogenerator for on-demand ground power and auxiliary power applications.

Northrop Grumman conducted a 139-sec. static test fire of its Omega rocket’s solid-fuel second stage on Feb. 27, the last of two full-scale engine firings prior to the rocket’s debut launch next year.

The UK will face a gap of at least nine months in its airborne early warning capability after deciding to retire its Boeing E-3 Sentry fleet by December 2022.

AVIATION WEEK NETWORK forecasts that over the next decade 888 new, Western-designed aircraft performing military transport missions will be built

Lockheed Martin sees Poland’s defense industry as a potential low-cost manufacturing source for the F-35 program, as “upward pressure” continues to grow on aircraft prices beyond Lot 14 partly due to the loss of Turkey as a low-cost manufacturing source.

Virgin Galactic remains committed to becoming the first commercial human spaceflight provider this year, but it could entail just lofting co-founder and celebrity entrepreneur Richard Branson rather than starting regular operations as previously forecast.

The U.S. Air Force has named the HH-60W search-and-rescue helicopter the Jolly Green II five months after it was green lighted for low-rate initial production.

The AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) is the U.S. military’s most technologically ambitious hypersonic weapon.

Boeing has dusted off a 10-year-old advanced missile concept to show off “tactically relevant” technologies for the Air Warfare Symposium here this week.

“We are looking at other options from China in the form of the Z-10ME,” Maj. Gen. Syed Najeeb Ahmed, commander of Pakistani Army Aviation, told the International Military Helicopter conference here in London.

The U.S. Air Force decided to buy two A-29s for further experimentation after canceling a planned acquisition of up to 350 Light Air Support aircraft.

As options for an F-22 replacement after 2030 continue to be analyzed, the distance challenges imposed by operations in the Pacific theater are driving the U.S. Air Force to consider redefining the traditional conception of a fighter, the head of Air Combat Command said on Feb. 27.

Taking its cue from commercial venture capitalists, the Air Force is revamping the technology investment process.

U.S. Navy Fire Scouts need reliability boost; India buys U.S. helos; Norway sends F-35s to Iceland; Tunisia to buy light attack aircraft.

Somewhere in Australia, Boeing and partners are building a loyal-wingman drone. A photo of a fuselage major assembly reveals details.

News in brief

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

Germany is looking to purchase as many as 60 additional Airbus H145M twin-engine light helicopters to meet training, liaison and light attack needs.

Northrop Grumman and Intelsat are hailing the “historic” first docking of two commercial satellites on orbit on Feb. 25, when the manufacturer’s first

Defense Secretary Mark Esper is awaiting a “range of options” from U.S. Transportation Command on how the Pentagon should tackle the lack of aerial refueling capacity.

Collins Aerospace has completed the first preproduction training pod for the U.S. Navy under the Tactical Combat Training System Increment II program to replace Navy and Marine Corps’ training range infrastructure.