Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

A required congressional notification confirms that a planned Japanese purchase will upgrade 98 F-15Js and cost an estimated $4.5 billion.

The Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) for the F-35 program is delayed because of a disagreement between the U.S. government and Lockheed Martin.

The search for and processing of resources such as water ice and oxygen as well as scientific discovery are quickly emerging as key drivers in NASA’s accelerated human return to the Moon’s surface in 2024 and preparation for Mars.

Northrop Grumman has completed all hardware installation for the delayed B-2 defensive management system modernization upgrade on the initial test aircraft.

The Pentagon has signed a $34 billion contract with Lockheed Martin to purchase 478 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters over the next three production lots.

Offensive electronic warfare is back on the Defense Department’s high-priority shopping list.

Sikorsky and Rheinmetall will build a logistics and fleet management center at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany if the CH-53K King Stallion is selected for the country’s STH heavy lift helicopter requirement.

The U.S. Air Force’s plan for acquiring future fighter aircraft may crimp the service’s ability to grow in the future, a study of the USAF’s force structure plans indicates.

Italy is lobbying Poland in a bid to secure final assembly of Warsaw’s planned fleet of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

The study ultimately will help define future launch service procurement requirements for the U.S. national security community.

This week Congress continues to try to hammer out annual appropriations, with the expiration of the current continuing resolution funding the U.S. government looming on Nov. 21.

LOCKHEED MARTIN has $148.4m U.S. Navy contract for F-35B durability testing support for certification of variant to a minimum of 8,000 flight hours/30-year service life.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, has been awarded an $18,253,921 modification to a firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order.

“This is a terrific endorsement and a transformational capital infusion which enables us to go full speed ahead towards our goals of commercial service and building additional spaceships,” Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides says.

The Pentagon has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract modification worth more than $7 billion before finalizing a much larger bundle of contracts and agreements to buy more than 470 F-35s for delivery between 2020 and 2022, fulfilling the last three years of low-rate production.

Lockheed Martin has started talks about expanding the capability of a helicopter-borne radar decoy and jammer designed initially for defending U.S. Navy ships from missile attacks, the company says.

GE Aviation announced a teaming agreement Oct. 28 to provide its flight-control computing platform on the SuperVolo vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drone designed for commercial applications.

U.S. Delta Force special operators and at least one dog were ferried by a mix of eight Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and Boeing H-47 Chinook helicopters to raid a compound housing the founder and leader of ISIS.

Uber Elevate on Oct. 28 revealed a multirotor, tiltwing design for its planned Uber Eats delivery drone.

A series of software-based upgrades is planned for the international fleet of NH90 land-based and naval helicopters.

Once again, the digging by NASA’s Mars InSight lander has come to a stop—and again, puzzling subsurface soil properties seemingly are to blame.

Airbus Helicopters is looking to combine artificial intelligence with its manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) technology to address concerns over pilot workload.

The nascent Space Development Agency (SDA) has announced a “permanent director” following the sudden departure of Fred Kennedy in July.

Offshore helicopter operator NHV Group has secured a British air operator certificate in preparation for the UK’s impending departure from the European Union.

A secretive, experimental spacecraft operated by the U.S. Air Force landed early on Oct. 27 after completing a record, 780-day journey in orbit.