Program Management

A planned upgrade will enable F-35s to control unmanned aircraft systems by 2023, just as the U.S. Air Force's AI-enabled Skyborg UAS should be ready for operations.

Results from a NASA-backed sounding rocket mission are shedding light on “speed bumps” for satellites that cause them to lose altitude.

Eight airmen have designed an innovative tool estimated to save the U.S. Air Force roughly $500,000 annually in cowling repairs for the aging Northrop Grumman E-8C J-Stars aircraft.

Problems with an unidentified supplier forced Moog, a provider of aerospace and defense fluid controls and systems, to report a $9 million charge in its fiscal second quarter of 2019.

The first air carrier certificate for a commercial drone delivery service in the U.S. has been awarded by the FAA to Wing, the subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet.

The USAF is standing up a gateway comm system at an operational base to enable certain front-line fighters, including the F-35A, to transmit data to other aircraft types without compromising its stealth signature.

A new agreement between aircraft-maker Boeing and aerostructures provider Spirit AeroSystems due to ongoing 737 MAX troubles should ward off the worst effects of the narrowbody’s production slowdown for the Wichita supplier.

A directive that accelerates NASA’s plans to return to the Moon’s surface with humans from 2024-2028 has also created an urgency that it return first with rovers.

Embraer’s E195-E2 has been awarded simultaneous Brazilian, European and U.S. type certification, clearing the way for initial deliveries of the stretched 146-seat airliner to begin early in the second half of the year.

Lockheed Martin’s Pilotage Distributed Aperture Sensor system flew its first flight on a Bell V-280 Valor.

The march toward integrating drones into the U.S. national airspace system continues.

An experimental Israeli spacecraft faltered minutes before a planned landing on the surface of the Moon.

Studies suggest both the traffic and infrastructure are available to make urban air mobility attractive as a premium service.

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.

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

Boeing’s proposed changes to its 737 MAX family flight-control software will undergo “additional work” and may not be in regulators’ hands for a final review for another six weeks.

The U.S. Army is requesting $2.3 billion in fiscal 2020 unfunded requirements.

NASA has agreed to conduct an assessment of the probabilities of meeting cost and launch schedule estimates for the James Webb Space Telescope by late September.

SINGAPORE/FRANKFURT—China Aviation Supplies Holding Company (CAS) has signed a General Terms Agreement (GTA) with Airbus for 290 A320 family aircraft and 10 A350s in one of Airbus’ biggest deals for its narrowbody aircraft.

Within the next six months, Lockheed Martin plans to launch a cubesat mission to demo a software-defined sat architecture that will allow a spacecraft to change missions while on orbit.

The USAF, Marine Corps, Navy and National Nuclear Security Administration have all submitted fiscal 2020 unfunded priorities lists to Congress.

U.S. Congress begins debating the Defense Department’s fiscal 2020 budget request.

NASA chief fires warning shot, orders study to assess launching Orion lunar flight test on commercial boosters.

DARPA plans to demonstrate a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) system that can be assembled on orbit to expand U.S. operating presence in cislunar space.

OEMs and Tier 1s must be vigilant about lower-tier suppliers and a possible working capital crunch they could face in coming years.