Defense

Production of Gripen E for Brazil is starting, but selection of an air-to-air missile for the model is still pending.

The request for information (RFI) provides the competitive field with the first glimpse of the Army’s detailed requirements for replacing the 40-year-old UH-60 design.

The Russian Defense Ministry received the first serial Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A heavy transport aircraft (serial number 0109) in a handover April 2 at the Ulyanovsk-based Aviastar-SP facility.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded a roughly $42 million contract to Sierra Nevada for A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft maintenance and training for the Afghanistan Air Force through 2023.

The U.S. F-35 program executive officer has revealed to Congress that future potential foreign military customers for the fifth-generation fighter include Romania and Poland.

SpaceX ignited a methane-burning Raptor engine attached to the base of its prototype Starship vehicle on April 3.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is asking Congress for another $108 million for hypersonic and ballistic space sensor development in fiscal 2020.

A new upgrade for the B-1B fleet will fully integrate the Northrop Grumman/Rafael Litening targeting pod into the cockpit displays.

Shareholders of L3 Technologies and Harris Corp. approved the merger of their two companies in separate votes April 4, keeping the deal on track to close by midyear.

The U.S. Navy has revealed a new schedule to Congress for the Next-Generation Air Dominance program analysis of alternatives, which may fly alongside the F-35.

Israeli manufacturer Rafael’s next defense prize in Brazil is a weapons upgrade package for the army’s and navy’s fleet of utility helicopters.

Leonardo Helicopters and Lockheed Martin have carried out the first flight trials of the EH101 Merlin naval helicopter fitted with the Crowsnest airborne surveillance and control system.

Brazil’s locally developed ground-launched cruise missile is now scheduled to complete testing two years late in 2020, an Avibras sales executive says.

Australia has lifted its defense budget by a nominal 3.2% to A$38.6 billion ($27.3 billion) for the fiscal year beginning in July 2019.

A $95 million Israeli spacecraft has slipped into an elliptical lunar orbit in preparation for a touchdown attempt on the Moon’s surface on April 11.

Preparations for a potential no-deal Brexit have cost the UK aerospace industry as much as £500 million ($660 million), analysts have suggested.

For the second time, an automated Russian Progress resupply mission has reached the International Space Station on an accelerated, two-orbit trajectory.

Aerospace and defense supplier Thyssenkrupp said on April 3 it will stand up a metals- and plastic-focused Additive Manufacturing TechCenter Hub in Singapore.

The U.S. is responding to increased Chinese and Russian space threats by building a space force and planning to spend $14 billion in fiscal 2020. Is it enough?

Turkey, U.S. still at odds over S-400; Lockheed to deliver AEHF-5 soon; Cubesat to process hyperspectral images; and sizing up the defense electronics market.

Opening of a new supercomputer facility at MBDA leads to confirmation that France is developing a scramjet-powered nuclear cruise missile.

U.S. Army seeks major funding for its Future Vertical Lift modernization program beginning in fiscal 2020, but targets existing programs as the bill-payers.

The U.S. Air Force is preparing for the first of five flights in 2019 aboard new commercial small satellite launchers.

India plans to buy 24 MH-60R anti-submarine helicopters manufactured by Lockheed Martin at an estimated cost of $2.6 billion.

The Joint Strike Fighter Caucus is asking congressional appropriators and authorizers to OK the buy of 102 F-35s, 24 more than the DOD sought in fiscal 2020.