Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Airbus has reached an “agreement in principle” with France’s financial prosecutor (Parquet National Financier or PNF), the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and U.S. authorities, the company confirmed Jan. 28.

Uber is launching a three-year, “multimillion-dollar” community engagement plan to pave the way for the anticipated start of commercial urban aerial ride-sharing services in its pilot cities of Dallas, Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia.

Fort Worth-based Novaria Group, a holding company rolling up Tier 2 and 3 aerospace and defense suppliers, has changed ownership itself, with Rosewood Private Investments and Tailwind Advisors selling to major investment firm KKR.

Japan Air Lines is to conduct a drone delivery demonstration with Yabu City, in Hyogo Province, and service provider Terra Drone.

Qatar’s Gulf Helicopters has emerged as the launch customer for the Safran Aneto-powered version of the Leonardo AW189K super-medium twin-engine helicopter.

A European Space Agency-led collaboration with NASA, the $1.5 billion Solar Orbiter mission, is set to lift off from Cape Canaveral.

Swiss helicopter manufacturer Kopter has unveiled the final configuration for production models of its SH09 single-engine light helicopter.

Bell has announced a series of upgrades for its commercial helicopters as it emerges from another good year for deliveries, buoyed by demand for its light turbine rotorcraft.

Safran has hinted that a future Airbus light helicopter could feature a hybrid-electric propulsion system.

Selected U.S. military contracts from the past week

News in brief

Brief news items of interest to aerospace & defense professionals.

NASA has selected privately owned Axiom Space of Houston to provide a commercial habitation module to be attached to the International Space Station.

Two Northrop Grumman MQ-4Cs have officially started the high-altitude UAS' first operational deployment, the U.S. Navy says.

Fast-growing LCC Wizz Air had selected Pratt & Whitney’s GTF engine to power 166 Airbus A320neo family aircraft the Hungarian LCC has on order, Pratt said Jan. 27.

Honeywell has partnered with U.S. startup Jetoptera to explore fluidic propulsion for military cargo and surveillance UAS.

The U.S. Air Force has “walked back” portions of a $30 billion reinvestment strategy based on objections by combatant commanders, chief of staff Gen. David Goldfein said on Jan. 27.

A new mandate to de-pair high-time Rolls-Royce Trent 1000s related to unexplained engine compressor surge issues is not expected to lead to more Boeing 787 groundings, the manufacturer said.

A European consortium of industry and academia will develop a road Map for furthering hybrid-electric propulsion for commercial aircraft under a project funded by the European Commission (EC).

NASA has selected 16 wide-ranging science investigations and technology demonstrations for launch next year as the first payloads to be delivered to the Moon’s surface by two of 14 companies qualified by the agency for lunar missions under NASA’s $2.6 billion, 10-year Commercial Lunar Payload Services programs.

Ad Astra Rocket Co. is poised to bring the company’s Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket electric propulsion system to a Technical Readiness Level of 6.

Poland’s government will sign a $4.6 billion contract for 32 Lockheed Martin F-35As on Jan. 31, Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak announced Jan. 27.

The U.S. defense research agency awarded Northrop a $13 million, one-year contract under the Glide Breaker program.

Astronauts on the fourth spacewalk to repair the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer found signs of a leak.

GLOBAL LEADERS IN AIRCRAFT PAINTING 11 STATE-OF-THE-ART FACILITIES WORLDWIDE Military, Commercial & OEM www.iac.aero