The U.S. State Department has approved a proposed sale of 66 F-16 Block 70 aircraft to Taiwan despite the intense opposition of the Chinese government.
Although NASA still is officially targeting late 2020 for the SLS debut in the Artemis-1 test mission, the agency is widely expected to acknowledge the slide as part of the outcome of an ongoing review associated with recent leadership changes in its exploration programs.
The U.S. Navy’s Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR), a version of the modular SPY-6(V) Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) under development by Raytheon, has completed its first system-level tests at Wallops Island in Virginia.
“This acquisition further strengthens Jacobs’ position in highly profitable and complementary sectors within nuclear and defense," Jacobs Chair and CEO Steve Demetriou said.
Despite test incidents and delays to both NASA commercial crew systems, Boeing expects to conduct the first uncrewed orbital flight of its CST-100 Starliner in October, while SpaceX still hopes to fly astronauts in the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station by the end of the year.
Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) will field a new training system for the Eurofighter Typhoon that will allow the service to achieve its aim of a 50:50 live-synthetic blend of operational training.
On Aug. 18, the Pentagon conducted a successful flight test of a ground-launched conventional cruise missile with a range of more than 500 km (300 mi.)—a weapon previously banned under the now-defunct Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Japan has formally selected the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning for an acquisition program for 42 short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing fighters, going through the motions of acquisition procedures even though it had no alternative.
“After successfully performing the crucial maneuver, Chandrayaan-2 has left for the Moon. If all goes well, it will reach the Moon’s orbit by Aug. 20,” says a senior scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization.
Announced on Aug. 19, the agreement calls for Collins to provide local field service engineers and test capabilities at locations in Soesterberg and at Woensdrecht Air Base, including establishment of an F-35 pilot readiness center.
As part of an ongoing expansion programme, Djibouti’s small air arm, the Force Aérienne du Djibouti (FAdD, Djibouti Air Force), has taken delivery of four newly refurbished AS365N Dauphins.
Arriving late to the party, Japan finds that it has the second-biggest acquisition plan in the F-35 Lightning program but very little industrial participation.
Senior U.S. lawmakers are praising the Trump administration for green lighting the proposed sale of new F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan after the White House informally notified Congress of the $8 billion deal.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama will lead efforts to develop a three-component human Moon lander system under assignments announced Aug. 16 by agency Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps warn that reductions to the Lockheed Martin F-35C would delay establishing a second Marine squadron by up to one year and cuts to the Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye would prevent using the aircraft in high-threat environments.
Lockheed Martin displayed a rarely-seen F-35 model loaded with four Cuda air-to-air missiles at a large missile defense conference in Alabama last week, but there is no link between Cuda and a missile defense application, the company says.
Russia is reporting progress with two aircraft programs that are key to its efforts to reduce its dependence on imported products: the Ilyushin-designed Il-112V light military transport and Il-114-300 regional turboprop.
The U.S. Navy’s Ford-class aircraft carrier Advanced Arresting Gear system has been approved to recover all “props and jets,” an aircraft recovery bulletin says.
Taiwan’s defense technology agency has raised performance in a second version of its Teng Yun surveillance drone, bringing the developmental aircraft close to a likely service standard, a program official said.
Virgin Galactic has declared its new base at Spaceport America operationally ready as the company sets its sights on the long-anticipated start of commercial suborbital spaceflights from the New Mexico facility in 2020.
