Defense

Russian military aircraft that were deployed to Venezuela on Dec. 10 will return to their home bases after a brief and controversial visit, the White House says.

The future House Armed Services Committee leader believes the Pentagon “is being a little bit disingenuous” when claiming a fiscal 2020 defense budget under $733 billion will increase risk for the U.S. armed forces.

British pseudo-satellite developer Prismatic has completed the first wing section of the Phasa-35 solar-powered high-altitude air vehicle.

Departures of chief financial officers in the aerospace and defense industry may be picking up, if two recent high-level announcements are any indication.

Sikorsky and Boeing have confirmed that the first flight of the SB-1 Defiant advanced rotorcraft demonstrator has slipped into early 2019.

The U.S. Navy is looking to the commercial aviation industry for best practices on getting aircraft through the government’s depot maintenance facilities.

A Soyuz launcher is to place into orbit France’s first new-generation Earth observation satellite for military purposes, CSO-1, on Dec. 18.

South Korea’s parliament has OK'd an 8.2% rise in the 2019 defense budget to 46.671 trillion won ($41.35 billion), despite improved relations with North Korea.

Alberto Gutierrez is to assume the helm as the head of military aircraft at Airbus Defense and Space, taking over from Fernando Alonso.

So far, the Japanese defense ministry has only sought information for 30–50 Bell AH-1S replacements. Six companies are preparing to bid.

A successful test by an SM-3 IIA on Dec. 10 checks several boxes in the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s plans to deploy Aegis Ashore batteries in Europe and Japan.

The U.S. and Israel are hashing out last-minute differences over the sale of secondhand F-16 fighter aircraft to Croatia.

The Pentagon’s nascent Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) is up and running.

Japan’s imminent five-year defense plan will include buying 50 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightnings, to be followed by a further 50, the Mainichi newspaper says.

Britain’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory has issued tenders for a study into the creation of a synthetic aperture radar small sat constellation.

The Philippines will order 16 Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk helicopters within months, Defense Secretary Deflin Lorenzana said.

Japanese startup Euglena has completed construction of the country’s first demonstration plant for producing renewable jet and diesel fuel.

Kuwait has finally confirmed its long-awaited order for the Boeing Super Hornet, the US Department of Defense has announced. Jon Lake reports.

Why the merger with Harris Corp. was the inevitable capstone to a boom-bust story.

The U.S. Air Force has released a draft solicitation for the second phase of a next-generation rocket competition to deliver National Security Space payloads.

The Pentagon will not confirm the fiscal 2020 top line budget numbers until Feb. 4.

Voyager 2 has joined its Voyager 1 twin in interstellar space, scientists announced Dec. 10 at the American Geophysical Union meeting in Washington.

India’s indigenous Light Utility Helicopter reached an altitude of 6 km in recent testing, a critical requirement for the certification of the 3-ton aircraft.

China’s Chang’e 4 lunar probe has conducted a second course correction following its launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China.

A German think tank has suggested Berlin could go down the route of a split buy of Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and Eurofighters.