Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Private pilot Jared Isaacman and three-member crew train for first all-civilian private space charter, aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Long-feared problems in the aerospace and defense supplier base stemming from the pandemic are suddenly surging, industry executives say.

The first of new generation of SpaceX Starlink satellites reached near-polar orbit Sept. 14, adding to growing broadband constellation.

Project participants have announced the start of pilot programs to deliver medical supplies by drone in India and Germany.

The two parties made the announcement on the opening day of the Defense, Security and Equipment International (DSEI) exposition in London.

Startup Mobius Energy plans to deliver its first electric-propulsion battery module to a customer in October.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank has renewed a guarantee supporting aircraft-engine sales while Reta Jo Lewis has been nominated to lead the export credit agency.

Thomas Huber will lead Mercury’s “1MPACT” strategic review announced last month during its fourth-quarter fiscal 2021 earnings release, when it acknowledged a slowdown in organic business growth.

Vertex Aerospace, a legacy L3 Technologies unit providing logistics, MRO and supply chain management, has bought up a number of business lines from Raytheon Technologies as it moves into the latter stages of post-merger divestitures.

A contract award puts the Lockheed Martin F-35A on track to reduce cost per flight hour (CPFH) to $30,000 by 2023, still $5,000 short of the U.S. Air

As the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff nears the end of his term, he sees several areas for improvement at the Pentagon.

The Missile Defense Agency and Boeing successfully launched a Ground Based Interceptor, to evaluate a new selectable-boost vehicle.

NASA is gradually acknowledging that efforts to return human explorers to the surface of the Moon in 2024 through the Artemis initiative are fading.

The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) has identified 313 aerospace businesses to be awarded $482.3 million in funding, with Spirit Aerosystems garnering the lion’s share at more than $70 million.

The UK Royal Air Force is to spend £400 million ($553 million) on upgrades for its Boeing C-17 Globemaster and CH-47 Chinook fleets.

General Atomics has completed a flight of one of its MQ-9 medium-altitude, long endurance uncrewed air systems over Canada’s High North.

UK advanced air mobility startup Vertical Aerospace is gearing up to begin assembly of its VA-X4 engineering prototype to fly in 2022.

As first electric aircraft enter service airports and operators come to grips with infrastructure for recharging batteries.

Northrop’s engineers are actively discussing a new version of the unmanned RQ-4 with the Army that would require substantial modifications to the baseline aircraft.

Virgin Galactic ordered additional inspections after an unidentified vendor contacted the company about a potential problem with its components.

Energy giant Chevron and renewable fuel producer Gevo have signed an LOI to build one or more facilities to process inedible corn into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

D-Orbit UK is to lead development of a spacecraft “deorbit kit” for the European Space Agency.

North Korea has claimed to have successfully fired a new locally developed cruise missile capable of reaching targets across the Korean peninsula and into Japan.

Equitix Investment Management is paying £189 million ($261 million) for the engine-maker’s 23.1% holding in Airtanker Holdings Ltd.

The tracking service will use laser ranging to monitor objects in low Earth orbit, offering satellite operators the ability to identify collision threats and maneuver accordingly.