Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Mark Carreau
NASA and its large and diverse contractor team are eager for the success of the Artemis I test flight, seeing the uncrewed mission as an opportunity to learn from a lengthy and challenging development effort in order to continue advancing the technology and cutting costs.
Space Focus

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force now possesses four MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopters as it starts developmental testing following a series of setbacks for the program.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
HawkEye 360 and the U.S. Army have signed a new, two-year agreement to develop and demonstrate new overhead radio frequency sensing capabilities that could be used to cue military surveillance assets.
Space

By Graham Warwick
DARPA is launching a program to demonstrate a long-endurance uncrewed aircraft able to operate from warship flight decks and small austere locations in adverse weather.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Mark Carreau
The change is to better accommodate the timing of upcoming operations aboard the ISS.
Space

By Chen Chuanren
Canberra wants the 40 Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawks to replace its fleet of problematic NHIndustries NH90 helicopters, known locally as MRH90 Taipans.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
Austria’s Airpower Airshow claims to have secured the European debut of China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force with the participation of an X’ian Y-20 airlifter.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Brian Everstine
The Pentagon is implementing a new plan to avoid civilian casualties in air strikes and other combat operations, with steps such as creating a new data system for sharing information on potential civilian harm and incorporating new guidance into military training, exercises and doctrine.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Irene Klotz
NASA on Aug. 25 was on track to begin the two-day launch countdown for its first Space Launch System rocket, leading to a launch attempt at 8:33 a.m. EDT on Aug. 29 from Kennedy Space Center.
Space Focus

By Irene Klotz
Boeing is aiming to launch its third CST-100 Starliner spacecraft—this time with a pair of NASA astronauts aboard—in about six months, managers told reporters on Aug. 25.
Space

By Garrett Reim
The U.S. Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center East at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, recently tested using autonomous vehicles to speed up material handling at a parts warehouse, an experiment to find ways to free up personnel for aircraft maintenance work.
MRO

By Graham Warwick
U.S. startup Jetoptera plans to test a blended wing body model with integrated fluidic propulsion and upper-surface blowing as it bids to win a U.S. Air Force contract to build a prototype high-speed vertical/short takeoff and landing aircraft.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Brian Everstine
A Northrop Grumman B-2 bomber recently launched a Lockheed Martin AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range for the first time as part of a series of upgrades to the bomber.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Brian Everstine
U.S. aircraft struck infrastructure sites reportedly belonging to Iranian-backed militias on Aug. 23 more than a week after American troops were targeted in an attack that a U.S. official said was directly linked to Tehran by, among other things, wreckage of Iranian-made drones.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Garrett Reim
Ottawa and Berlin have committed to a Canada-Germany Hydrogen Alliance to boost investment, production and transatlantic trade in hydrogen, with a goal to export clean hydrogen from Canada to Germany as soon as 2025.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The White House announced its largest-yet tranche of aid for Ukraine on Aug. 24.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Guy Norris
Amid growing orbital threats from China and Russia, U.S. Space Command is calling on industry for innovative solutions to form a global space domain awareness sensor network that will be interoperable with systems used by international allies.
Space

By Chen Chuanren
Lockheed Martin Australia has announced that its R&D team’s Science, Technology, Engineering Leadership, Research Laboratory has successfully implemented artificial intelligence-powered decision support capabilities for the Australia Defense Force’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense system.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force wants to privatize its helicopter pilot training, turning to industry to provide all aspects of initial training for pilots headed for its chopper cockpits.
Light Attack and Advanced Training

By Mark Carreau
NASA has chosen three companies to continue the development and environmental testing of prototype vertical solar arrays that could be positioned at the Moon’s south pole to provide electrical power for a range of future human and robotic operations.
Space

By Molly McMillin
Aviation employment is down nearly 50% since 2020, but manufacturing output is higher.
Airports, FBOs & Suppliers

By Tony Osborne
One of the UK Royal Air Force’s new P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft has been credited with helping to rescue two rowers in the North Atlantic.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
Leonardo Helicopters has performed initial flight tests of its AW249 attack helicopter under development for the Italian Army.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Garrett Reim
The FAA has agreed to a certification basis for Reliable Robotics’ autoflight and navigation systems.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Brian Everstine
The Pentagon’s initial development of counter-unmanned aerial system capabilities was specifically focused on Middle East base defenses, but the Russia-Ukraine war has shown that the capability needs to be deployed globally with tactical units also able to down the drones, the U.S. Army’s officer in charge of the mission says.
Aircraft & Propulsion