Defense

Britain’s Military Flying Training System is to take delivery of four more Airbus H145 Jupiter helicopters to support an upgrade in pilot training requirements.

For lack of $14 million a year, premier infrared space telescope’s mission ends Jan. 30.

The country that popularized unmanned aircraft systems in modern warfare is at the forefront of a new strategic change.

A new automation mode to improve strafing accuracy by F-16s also highlights a new approach to fielding new capabilities.

Welcoming the sixth and newest U.S. armed service the Space Force which has its first official member.

News in brief

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

Boeing has abruptly ended its participation in the development of the Phantom Express reusable launch vehicle, effectively terminating DARPA’s XSP (Experimental Spaceplane) program for which it was being built.

The U.S. Air Force is planning to hold its second demonstration of the Advanced Battle Management System in April, in which an unmanned aircraft system will fly with a government-owned open communication system used for translating waveforms to communicate with the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II.

Christophe Bruneau to Vice President-Military Engines of Safran Aircraft Engines, France.

MAPP TECHNOLOGIES, Joplin, MO has long-term agreement from Pratt & Whitney to manufacture F100 components.

New Space market driving changes in competitive balance of Israel’s defense industry.

The last few years have gone off plan at Maxar Technologies, which is worth bearing in mind with more space-sector consolidation expected.

The U.S. Space Development Agency released its short-term acquisition strategy as the office prepares to fold into the Space Force in October 2022.

BAE Systems’ move to bulk up its U.S. defense subsidiary with the acquisitions of a core piece of the erstwhile Rockwell Collins and a competitor unit to rival prime L3Harris Technologies will come at a premium, analysts said.

BELL BOEING completed first flight of CMV-22B Osprey for US NAVY.

Retired NASA astronauts Scott Kelly, Michael Lopez-Alegria and Pam Melroy, all former military test pilots and space mission commanders, have been selected for entry into the U S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Eleven NASA candidate astronauts completed two years of basic training on Jan. 10 to become eligible for flight assignments.

BAE SYSTEMS, VA agreed to acquire Collins Aerospace's military GPS business for $1.9b and Raytheon’s Airborne Tactical Radios business for $275m

Todd Probert to Group President, Defence & Security, based in Washington, DC, of CAE.

Bell Boeing plans to deliver the first CMV-22B ordered by the U.S. Navy to the HX-21 test and evaluation squadron in early 2020.

Many features of the West’s futuristic vision for a distributed command and control network is already in service by the IDF.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch on Jan. 20 completed the latest spacewalk in a long-running effort to upgrade the space station's solar power generation system.

BAE is expected to pay $1.925 billion for Collins’ GPS business and another $275 million for Raytheon’s radio business