United Kingdom (UK)

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
A company successfully demonstrated a distributed passive sensor array that could help to mitigate interference caused by wind turbines on UK defense radars.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Tony Osborne
Norway and the UK will work together on tackling Russian underwater warfare threats through a new agreement signed by the two countries.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By David Casey, Alan Dron
Listen in to hear about the decision on London Heathrow’s planned third runway, what the move means for airlines and whether the 2035 timeline is achievable.
Window Seat Podcast

By Robert Wall
Safran is pondering boosting missile motor production as demand grows for the missiles they power, such as Kongsberg's Naval Strike Missile.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Tony Osborne
The UK plans to acquire the GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb II to give its Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters a long-desired standoff capability.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
The UK and EU have failed to reach an agreement on British participation in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative for funding defense procurement.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Victoria Moores
The EU has given the formal go-ahead to negotiate the harmonization of the UK and EU emissions trading systems, which could simplify compliance for airlines.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Robert Wall, Tony Osborne
The UK government plans to adjust the rules around its air passenger duty (APD), with higher rates now set to apply to a larger range of business jet users.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Tony Osborne
The UK’s aviation weather forecaster is launching a new volcanic ash forecasting method to be made available for free to all airlines and the aviation industry.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Robert Wall
The UK says it will spend £316 million ($412 million) more on the MBDA DragonFire laser air defense systems.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Matthew Fulco
Keen Venture Partners has raised €150 million ($172.9 million) for its defense technology venture capital fund.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Tony Osborne
A UK Royal Air Force crew has been dazzled by a laser pointed at their aircraft from a Russian survey ship, UK Defense Secretary John Healey has said.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Graham Warwick
Joby’s hybrid eVTOL; maritime drone demonstrations; Tokyo air taxis; and advancing additive manufacturing.
Emerging Technologies

By Graham Warwick
The UK has launched a series of maritime drone projects aimed at demonstrating the ability to improve sustainability.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Tony Osborne
The technique was demonstrated several times during development and operational testing of the ship and the aircraft.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Robert Wall
Leonardo is seeing its defense business booming as Europe spends more on defense, but there are issues worrying management.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Robert Wall
The UK is looking to demonstrate an uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) for use with its AH-64E attack helicopters in 2027.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Matthew Fulco
Apium Swarm Robotics, a developer of distributed autonomy for unmanned systems, has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Red Cat Holdings.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
In its report on the UK F-35 program—published Oct. 31—the lawmakers said the fleet “faces significant capability gaps.”
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Vivienne Machi
The UK Space Agency is building out its satellite tracking capabilities.
Satellites

By Robert Wall
The Defense Ministry is looking to set up a single unit to manage its satellites, creating an opportunity for closer cooperation between ISR and satcoms programs.
Satellites

By Tony Osborne
A UK firm is adapting tech developed for smartphones and driverless automobiles to provide the navigational accuracy for a new generation of low-cost munitions.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Ben Goldstein
When Dronamics was founded 11 years ago, the Bulgarian startup took a contrarian view to the emerging commercial drone market.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Robert Wall
The European Space Agency has dropped the Truths mission from its €22 billion ($25.5 billion) planned submission to member ministers.
Space Exploration