Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

With federal missile and space spending ramping up in Huntsville, Alabama, mergers and acquisitions are starting to as well, including Centauri buying Kord Technologies for an undisclosed amount in a deal announced Sept. 24.

BOEING has partnered with Australia’s Trusted Autonomous Systems Defense Cooperative Research Center (DCRC) on artificial intelligence algorithms allowing unmanned systems to operate in anti-access/denied environments.

By Tony Osborne
Leonardo says it will build a customer support center near Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Florida, if the company’s TH-119 helicopter is selected as the U.S. Navy’s future rotary-wing trainer.
Defense and Space

By Bill Carey
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is studying the feasibility of using drones as part of its vehicle delivery fleet for mail and also to collect aerial images and data.

By Bill Carey
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is studying the feasibility of using drones as part of its vehicle delivery fleet for mail and also to collect aerial images and data.

By Graham Warwick
General Electric is to develop a lightweight, flight-ready, megawatt-class inverter for NASA that meets the size, power, efficiency and altitude requirements for use in an electrified aircraft propulsion system.

By Steve Trimble
Boeing has selected a new airframe supplier for the AH-6i helicopter to offer to potential international buyers, including Thailand, a company spokesman says.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
Russia’s Soyuz MS-15, whose three-person crew includes the first Emeriti to fly in space, launched to and docked with the International Space Station on Sept. 25.
Defense and Space

By Steve Trimble
The plan suggests the NNSA would have to divert early development funding intended to support future warheads for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent intercontinental ballistic missile and Long Range Standoff cruise missile programs.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
A yearlong study of 101 countries around the world concludes that 95 of them have an active inventory of military unmanned air vehicles, up 58% from a decade ago.
Defense and Space

By Bill Carey
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, operator of the largest non-Defense Department fleet of government aircraft, says it intends to comply with the FAA’s automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) Out regulation “through equipage or other relief options” by the January deadline.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
The U.S. will send up to 1,000 more personnel to Poland as the two nations negotiate on the permanent basing of U.S. personnel in the Eastern European country.
Defense and Space

By Lee Hudson
The HH-60W search-and-rescue helicopter is now cleared to enter low-rate initial production (LRIP) following a successful meeting between the U.S. Air Force and Sikorsky.
Defense and Space

By Marhalim Abas
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has notified Congress of a possible $400 million sale to Thailand of eight Boeing AH-6i light attack reconnaissance helicopters and associated equipment.

By Marhalim Abas
Singapore and the U.S. on Sept. 23 renewed a defense pact that allows U.S. forces use of the Southeast Asian country’s air and naval bases, extending it by 15 years.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), partners in the International Space Station (ISS), signed an agreement Sept. 24 to cooperate in U.S.-led efforts to establish a sustainable human presence at the Moon in preparation for expeditions to Mars.
Defense and Space

By Michael Bruno
Stock and debt analysts may have a soured outlook on the company, But Tier 1 and 2 aerospace supplier Triumph Group apparently can still raise new significant funds by issuing debt.
Defense and Space

By Lee Hudson
The State Department has OK'd a possible foreign military sale to Thailand of eight AH-6i Little Bird light attack reconnaissance helos and two AN/AAQ-24(V)N Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures systems to Qatar.
Defense and Space

By Lee Hudson
Boeing Super Hornets and Growlers in the Primary Mission Aircraft Inventory, at 345 and 95 aircraft respectively, are above the 80% target, according to a Sept. 24 Naval Air Forces commander statement.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
Denmark’s Nordic Seaplanes is to cooperate with Norway’s Equator Aircraft to develop a hybrid-electric seaplane for commercial services.

By Irene Klotz
Liftoff, which occurred at 12:05 p.m. EDT (1:05 a.m. Sept. 25 local time), came two weeks after a fire on the rocket’s moveable launcher nixed a previous launch attempt on Sept. 10.
Defense and Space

By Steve Trimble
The identity of the 360 Invictus within Bell’s product portfolio wasn’t immediately clear, but the registration appears as Bell develops a new rotorcraft to offer the U.S. Army for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) competitive prototyping program.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
An instrumented, Airbus-operated H225M twin-engined helicopter has completed 51 dry contacts in daylight with the A400M during flight tests over the south of France.
Defense and Space

By Kim Minseok, Bradley Perrett
SEOUL—The South Korean defense ministry said it will develop a laser weapon for destroying small drones. The system will be able to destroy drones of 10–20 kg (20–40 lb.) weight at a range of several kilometers (more than 1 mi.), an industry source said. Hanwha will make the prototype, the ministry said, adding that its own Agency for Defense Development (ADD) would lead work on the system, the Laser Air Defense Weapon Block 1.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
The 20-shp-class UAV Turbines Monarch 5 microturbine propulsion system flew in an RQ-23 TigerShark, replacing a Herbrandson two-stroke piston engine.
Defense and Space