Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

VERTEX AEROSPACE LLC has $30m U.S. Air Force contract for C-12 contractor logistic support.

Raytheon will upgrade test equipment for the AIM-120 Amraam at six military ranges.

SPACE FOUNDATION estimates revenues from global commercial space activity in 2018 reached $328.86b.

Matt Jouppi, [email protected]
The Boeing MQ-25 Stingray is a jet-powered, Group 5 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will perform aerial refueling missions for the U.S. Navy (USN).

By Bill Carey
Merging airline flights more efficiently with commercial space launch and re-entry activities requires that prototype technology be advanced to operational status, speakers told an Air Line Pilots Association conference.
Defense and Space

By Michael Bruno
Spirit AeroSystems will buy Bombardier’s aerostructures businesses in Northern Ireland and Morocco, as well as an MRO business in Dallas
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
Airbus Defense and Space has made a strategic investment in U.S.-based Amprius, which is developing high-energy-density batteries.

By Tony Osborne
Britain’s Royal Air Force has taken delivery of its first Boeing P-8 Poseidon, an initial step toward restoring its long-range maritime patrol capability.
Defense and Space

By Steve Trimble
Raytheon will upgrade test equipment for the AIM-120 Amraam at six military ranges, the U.S. Air Force announced Oct. 30.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
The inquiry found that the pilot, Iain Traill, had “took a chance” that the low fuel warnings he received were erroneous, Sheriff Principal Craig Turnball concluded in his report into the Clutha Vaults accident, published Oct. 30.

By Steve Trimble
As the U.S. Air Force comes within weeks of the first operational laser weapons, the Defense Department is hatching new concepts to address the power and thermal management limits of the state-of-the-art in the directed energy field.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
While field geology will remain a prominent part of future lunar astronauts' “to do” lists, much more may be expected of them.
Defense and Space

By Bill Carey
Pilots approaching a runway were able to see a drone encroaching in their airspace 30% of the time, according to a study by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Oklahoma State University (OSU).

By Jen DiMascio
The Senate Armed Services Committee has filed a slimmed-down version of its annual defense policy legislation.
Defense and Space

By Michael Bruno
L3Harris Technologies has begun advertising the sale of “several” business units deemed peripheral to the newly merged company’s strategy, the top L3Harris leader said Oct. 30, with proceeds earmarked to go to stock repurchases.
Defense and Space

By Bill Carey
Leading small drone manufacturer DJI has unveiled a highly capable quadcopter weighing 249 grams (0.5 lb.), which exempts it by 1 gram from registration requirements in the U.S. and other countries.

By Tony Osborne
The European Commission (EC) has cleared the acquisition of British defense firm Cobham by U.S. private equity firm Advent International, but approvals from the British government are still pending.
Defense and Space

By Steve Trimble
Taiwan’s Parliament has approved funding to buy 66 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 fighters, the country’s president says.
Defense and Space

By Michael Bruno
GKN Aerospace announced Oct. 30 that it appointed Krisstie Kondrotis as president of its defense division effective Nov. 1, marking a key executive transfer between rivals.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
Urban air mobility startup Volocopter has launched an unmanned cargo aircraft version of its Volocopter electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) air taxi.

By Steve Trimble
The Missile Defense Agency has selected four companies to demo a prototype for a new space-based sensor optimized to detect and track maneuvering, hypersonic targets gliding or cruising within the atmosphere.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Airbus says it has arrested much of the cash outflow associated with the development of the A400M airlifter.
Defense and Space

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg defended the company’s handling of recently disclosed text messages and email exchanges between employees involved in the development of the 737 MAX before lawmakers on Capitol Hill Oct. 29.

IAP WORLDWIDE SERVICES INC. has $84.6m U.S. Navy contract for E-6B logistics services.

By Bradley Perrett
The Japanese finance ministry is demanding private investment in the country’s Future Fighter program, in part to ensure contractors are fully incentivized to prevent failure.
Defense and Space