Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Mark Carreau
Under a $13.7 million contract with Advanced Space of Boulder, Colorado, the 6U small Capstone satellite could be ready to launch as soon as December 2020.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
German startup Fraundorfer Aeronautics plans to fly a next-generation autogyro demonstrator in 2020, and aims to introduce an initial two-seat production version by 2022 and a six-seat air taxi by 2025.

By Graham Warwick
French aerospace research agency Onera has dropped a launch vehicle model from its Eole small airborne launch system demonstrator at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Serbia is to take delivery of Chinese-made medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air vehicles (UAV), becoming the first customer for the platforms in Europe.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Airbus has lashed out at Madrid’s decision to select defense electronics firm Indra as the industrial lead for Spain’s share in the European Future Combat Air System.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
HAPSMobile, the joint venture between AeroVironment and Japan’s SoftBank, has flown the prototype Hawk30 high-altitude pseudo-satellite in restricted airspace at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center on Edwards AFB in California.
Defense and Space

By Marhalim Abas
Indonesia is using two China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. CH-4B Rainbow strike-capable, medium-altitude/long-endurance drones for testing and evaluation.
Defense and Space

Leading small drone manufacturer DJI and French drone services company Delair announced a partnership on Sept. 12 to provide visual data collection and analysis products for industrial applications

AIRBUS will study ultra-high-resolution synthetic aperture radar satellite technology under “Oberon” program for the UK’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory, leading to in-orbit demo in 2022

By Lee Hudson
The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the Pentagon’s fiscal 2020 budget request and would provide the Defense Department with $694.9 billion in accordance with the 2019 Bipartisan Budget Act.
Defense and Space

By Steve Trimble
A new air-launched missile with 30-40 km (16.2-21.6 nm) range that can be used to destroy integrated air defense systems and lightly armored vehicles is now being pursued by the U.S. Army’s aviation branch.
Defense and Space

By Michael Bruno
The proposed tie-up of Raytheon and United Technologies is being billed publicly as a potential catalyst for new technology some day in the future.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) has a $4.7 billion annual impact on the overall Texas economy and supports more than 52,000 government and private sector jobs, according to a first-ever statewide assessment by Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar.
Defense and Space

By Lee Hudson
U.S. Air Force Secretary nominee Barbara Barrett believes establishing a sixth armed service focused on space is long overdue.
Defense and Space

By Victoria Moores
Environmental protest group Heathrow Pause plans to disrupt flights at London Heathrow Airport for at least five days starting Sept. 13 by illegally flying UAVs within the airport’s exclusion zone.

By Bill Carey
Leading small drone manufacturer DJI and French drone services company Delair announced a partnership on Sept.12 to provide visual data collection and analysis products for industrial applications.

By Thierry Dubois
Some major telecommunications satellite operators have expressed cautiousness about 5G—a fifth-generation mobile communications network that satellites are supposed to be a component of—as a business opportunity, suggesting it may not live up to the hype.
Space

By Steve Trimble
The service’s overall program of record of 420 aircraft is expected to remain unchanged, but the fleet split between the current plan to buy 353 short-takeoff-vertical-landing (Stovl)-capable F-35Bs and 67 carrier-based F-35Cs could change dramatically.
Defense and Space

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. Air Force has identified a potential new design flaw with the KC-46A tanker and banned the fleet from carrying cargo or passengers until a solution is found and delivered.
Defense and Space

By Bill Carey
The “LuxStream” service will connect with SES’ managed Ku-band satellite network to offer data speeds of up to 25 Mbps in the U.S. and 15 Mbps globally.

By Tony Osborne
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is to equip its fleet of eight Beechcraft Shadow tactical intelligence-gathering aircraft with Leonardo’s Miysis directed infrared countermeasure.
Defense and Space

The Indonesian police force has taken delivery of its third Bell 429 light helicopter, completing a contract signed three years ago.

EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK and European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency signed agreement Sept. 10 to cooperate on supporting investment in European space-based service economy.

By Steve Trimble
Impatient U.S. lawmakers are threatening to transfer authority and some procurement funding for buying light attack aircraft to U.S. Special Operational Command from the USAF.
Defense and Space

By Lee Hudson, Steve Trimble
Lockheed Martin intends to migrate its F-35 digital support backbone, the Autonomic Logistics Information System, to a native-cloud architecture by year’s end and field it in 2020.
Defense and Space