Defense

The head of U.S. Strategic Command believes there is merit in pursuing a proliferated constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit, but warns the nation should not go “all in” on a technology that has not been proven.

The Pentagon is making optimistic assumptions, especially regarding congressional support, in its five-year plan for a U.S. Space Force (USSF), according to sources on Capitol Hill and in industry.

The U.S. Air Force will begin accepting Boeing KC-46As later this month and the company’s senior leadership is “embarrassed” by the program's foreign object debris problem, according to the service's acquisition chief.

Embraer has selected Francisco Gomes Neto, currently president of street bus body supplier Marcopolo, to be its next CEO and president.

Although the U.S. Air Force is moving fast to draw on commercial technology, there are limitations, U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson says.

The Aerospace Corp. has launched a cubesat that will serve as a testbed for evolving artificial intelligence techniques on orbit.

Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation has once again reshuffled its top management as it prepares to separate its commercial aircraft production from military programs.

A Japanese Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on April 9, having evidently crashed.

The U.S. Army is searching for an airborne surveillance platform with long-range, moving target detection capabilities.

The ZQ-2 medium-lift space launcher of private Chinese company Landspace is still due to make its first flight in 2020, a spokesperson said.

Dassault has won a program to re-equip the VIP squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force, which should receive three leased Falcon 7Xs within six months.

Raytheon is leading a consortium of tech firms to modernize the U.S. Air Force Space Defense Operations Center (Spadoc) that tracks and monitors space debris.

Ukraine has tested a ground-launched cruise missile that officials say can strike ground targets 300 km (180 mi.) away.

The UK defense ministry has launched a competition to find what it calls novel, robust and cost-effective technologies to deal with the unmanned air system threat.

Adding satellite manufacturing services to Rocket Lab’s technical portfolio was part of the plan from Day 1, founder and CEO Peter Beck tells Aerospace DAILY.

NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques conducted a 6 1/2-hr. spacewalk outside the ISS on April 8.

Switzerland has begun flight evaluations of the combat aircraft bidding to be the country’s next fighter.

A Boeing F-15E has started the flight test phase for a critical new electronic warfare system for hundreds of the twin-engine fighters, including the proposed F-15X model, the manufacturer announced on April 8.

Leonardo and the Polish defense ministry have signed offset deals in preparation for the awarding of a contract for new AW101 naval helicopters.

Harris Corp. has won an $84 million contract from the Space Enterprise Consortium to build an experimental satellite.

Britain plans to send UK-based F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to Cyprus for a training deployment this summer.

Landspace is working toward firing a complete TQ-12 engine in May following verification of the methane-burning system’s power pack in a hot test.

Israeli companies have completed the initial design of external fuel tanks for the Israeli Air Force’s (IAF) F-35 Adir stealth fighter.

Russia’s plan to transfer control of its S-300 air defense missile batteries in Syria to Syrian control is sparking concern among Israeli forces.

Westcott facility for Reaction Engines core testing takes British high-speed rocket propulsion research back to its post-war roots.