Defense

DARPA wants to take robotics underground with a challenge to autonomously search tunnel systems and cave networks for foes in combat or victims of natural disasters.

Boeing has delivered the interim fix, known as a fail-safe collar, to the U.S. Army and half of the program’s international customers so far to ensure the helicopter's rotor blades don't separate from the aircraft.

NASA has established an anomaly review panel to investigate a gyroscope issue that triggered the 28-year-old Hubble Space Telescope into safe mode late Oct. 5.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University students verified the accuracy of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) signals at high altitude in research supporting the integration of rocket launches and suborbital spaceflights in the U.S. airspace system.

George Krivo, CEO of DynCorp, discusses how the military and logistics services company has worked to stabilized itself through boom and bust cycles in the industry.

The U.S. Army’s recently opened Futures Command in Austin, Texas, is aimed at fixing the service’s notoriously laborious weapons acquisition process.

A Sikorsky/Boeing team says the high-speed SB-1 prototype “remains on a path” to achieve first flight by year’s end.

As the Pentagon forms its next budget request, U.S. Army acquisition officials have asked Boeing to describe the impact of delaying the initial operational capability milestone for the CH-47 Block II by five years, the company says.

Aerospace manufacturing and the supply chain continue to grow in South Carolina, economic boosters claimed Oct. 8.

The competition is between the Boeing CH-47 Chinook and Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion.

Investors see rotorcraft prevailing over legacy ground vehicles in long-term Pentagon planning.

The General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle Extended Range UAV has completed operational testing and evaluation.

Airbus is completing its ongoing leadership transition by naming Guillaume Faury its new CEO.

L3 Technologies on Oct. 6 celebrated the opening of its expanded L3 Arlington Training Center facility in Arlington, Texas.

The Houston Airport System’s commercial spaceport license features a constraint—horizontal launches and landings only. But HAS seems willing to embrace this limitation.

Aerospace features high on the list of potential applications for technologies to be developed under the latest round of tech projects announced by the LIFT manufacturing institute.

Chinese state space industrial group Casc will begin testing a demonstrator methane-burning rocket engine using the expander configuration in November.

The U.S. Army’s selection eliminates rival bids by Northrop Grumman and newcomer Technovative Applications to develop a significantly improved radar system for Patriot.

BAE Systems has unveiled a next-generation threat management technology that can work with fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft to dispense countermeasures.

Turkey is pushing ahead with its ambitious plans to develop and deploy an indigenous fifth-generation fighter, known as the TF-X or Milli Muharebe Uçağı (national combat aircraft).

The U.S. Army has awarded L3 Technologies a $454 million, five-year contract to supply Wescam MX-10D sensor systems to upgrade the service’s RQ-7B UAVs.

British defense officials contend that the Boeing 737-based E-7 is the “best value for money option.”

Hypersonic X-plane; NASA testbed crash; Raider hits 200 kt., drone strikes wing; smart material for turbine; waste-gas biofuel; Garmin joins Bell’s eVTOL; advancing lightweight structures, and TsAGI reshapes Tadpole.

These victories, while impressive, have led to questions on pricing and whether the company is effectively buying the market by offering the lowest prices around.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will begin operational test and evaluation in November, which means the jets may be cleared for full-rate production in summer 2019.