Lockheed Martin is beginning work to upgrade 94 already fielded F-35s to the so-called 3F configuration, work that is slated to take up to 20 years to finish.
A Royal Australian Air Force KC-30A multirole tanker transport is due to arrive at Edwards AFB in California later this week to conduct aerial refueling tests with a U.S. Air Force F-35A following the completion of identical tests involving an Italian air force Boeing KC-767A.
Avic is planning an unusually high service ceiling of 5,700 meters (18,700 ft.) for the Advanced Heavy Lifter (AHL) helicopter proposed for joint development with Russian Helicopters.
Avic is making its first moves into the market for dedicated attack helicopters, developing an export version of the Z-19 attack helicopter that an official says could be delivered in 2017.
AM GENERAL has $89.5m U.S. Army contract for 64 M997A3 HMMWV ambulance vehicles for domestic disaster relief efforts by the Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard.
With Congress back from recess, a flood of discussion about the Iranian nuclear deal is set to begin in the nation’s capital, both among lawmakers and think tanks. The House Foreign Affairs Committee will continue its discussion on the deal’s implications in separate hearings Wednesday and Friday featuring witnesses including former chiefs of U.S. Central Command and U.S. European Command. Meanwhile, on Wednesday the House Armed Services Committee’s seapower subcommittee will discuss the future U.S. Air Force bomber program.
Italian manufacturer Alenia Aermacchi is pushing ahead with the development of its M-345 High Efficiency Trainer (HET) and has declared international interest in a proposed dual-role variant of the M-346.
The six-person International Space Station (ISS) is well provisioned into late this year, according to station commander Scott Kelly of NASA and his predecessor, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.
Both ships are of the size of the country’s first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, the report says. Liaoning was bought unfinished from Ukraine in 1998, completed at Dalian and commissioned in 2011.
Parallel-processing experts at Draper Laboratory will use techniques developed for government customers that need to handle “massive data streams” to create ground systems for a laser-based high-bandwidth orbit-to-Earth communications system being commercialized under license from the Aerospace Corp.
Ballistic missile defense features prominently in Japan’s proposed military budget for its next fiscal year, with the defense ministry seeking to build one Aegis destroyer and upgrade two others for the role while preparing for production of the interceptor they will carry.
Demonstrations underway aboard the International Space Station involving visiting European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen could have far-reaching implications for the roles humans and robots play in the exploration of Mars and other planetary surfaces.
Flight testing has cleared the first two helicopter types for operation from Australia’s two new assault ships, while the navy takes an interest in the possibility of sometimes applying the vessels to anti-submarine operations.
Japan’s defense ministry proposes in its fiscal 2016 budget to place money-saving multiyear orders for Sikorsky H-60 helicopters, to be built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries under license, and imported Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor transports.
In observance of the Labor Day holiday in the U.S., Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not be publishing on Tuesday, Sept. 8. The next issue will be dated Wednesday, Sept. 9.
SIKORSKY has $46.1m U.S. Army foreign military sales contract for four UH-60M helicopters for Slovakia. Work to be performed in Stratford, CT, complete by May 31, 2017. KRATOS DEFENSE & SECURITY SOLUTIONS, INC. has $20m, two-year contract for electromagnetic railgun work for undisclosed U.S. government customer.
Boeing will call its CST-100 commercial crew vehicle the Starliner. Chris Ferguson, the company’s deputy commercial crew program manager, announced the name Sept. 4 at a ceremony opening the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. The Starliner will be assembled and processed for launch in the new facility, which occupies one of NASA’s shuttle-era Orbiter Processing Facilities (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 4).
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Aug. 31-Sept. 2—AIAA Space and Astronautics Forum and Exposition (Space 2015), Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, California. For more information go to www.aiaa-space.org
Earlier this year, Former Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale was reasonably assured that Congress would find a way to pass spending legislation before this year’s appropriations measure expires on Sept. 30.
