Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The investigation into the April 20 explosion is still ongoing, but so far appears to have exonerated the SuperDraco engines needed to fly a Dragon capsule to safety in case of a problem during ascent, SpaceX says.

The Pentagon admits its $25,000 flight hour stretch goal for the Lockheed Martin F-35A is unrealistic to attain by fiscal 2025.

A new missile defense interceptor quietly entered development by the U.S. Air Force in fiscal 2019 under a four-year, $632 million prototyping program.

A planned upgrade will enable F-35s to control unmanned aircraft systems by 2023, just as the U.S. Air Force's AI-enabled Skyborg UAS should be ready for operations.

Despite hopes of flying the aircraft during the Turkish Republic’s centenary in 2023, the company now is planning to fly in 2026.

BAE Systems says the demonstration “ensures the UK has the right technologies and skills in place for the future,” and suggests they could be used on the UK’s Future Combat Air System.

The 10 min., 10 sec. mission marked the 11th test flight for the Kent, Washington-based launch services company’s New Shepard rocket.

India’s national space agency plans to launch its latest radar imaging satellite, Risat-2BR1, by the end of this month.

Now struggling with challenges in its rail transportation business, Bombardier has announced the latest step in its plan to focus its aerospace unit on business aircraft.

Cobham Aerospace Communications said it has successfully bench tested a proof-of-concept satellite communications (satcom) system for unmanned aircraft that represents a step change in transmitting high-bandwidth video by satellite. &

BELL BOEING has $29.8m U.S. Navy contract for software and hardware upgrades for MV-22 flight training devices.

NASA is delaying the planned May 1 launch of a SpaceX cargo ship to the International Space Station to troubleshoot a problem with the station’s electrical system.

House appropriators are frustrated by a lack of information coming from the Defense Department on the Space Force.

Aerojet Rocketdyne continues to show a “solid” business performance, financial analysts said about the company’s latest quarterly report, but its financials have yet to take off.

A device called Sidekick will allow a U.S. Air Force or Navy version of the F-35 to carry six AIM-120 missiles internally instead of four.

Harris Corp.’s and L3 Technologies’ latest quarterly earnings are building expectations for their upcoming merger.

Britain has appointed its first female defense secretary, Penny Mordaunt, following the firing of Gavin Williamson.

Icelandic authorities have begun using an Israeli-made Hermes 900 unmanned aircraft system to patrol the island’s exclusive economic zone.

Leading aerostructures provider Spirit AeroSystems has suspended its financial guidance for 2019 and shelved stock buybacks, executives announced May 1.

The U.S. Navy secretary says the service will refuel the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), which was slated for an early retirement because of budget constraints.

With less than 18 months of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program (UAS IPP) left to run, officials involved are hopeful the effort will result in a framework of repeatable processes for approving complex drone operations in national airspace.

As NASA looks to step up its detection of potentially dangerous Near Earth Objects, it is working on a dedicated deep-space observatory first proposed more than a dozen years ago.

Northrop Grumman is to debut the Firebird optionally piloted intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft at the Royal International Air Tattoo in the UK in July.

“The dilemma now is what to purchase first, as the budget will not be enough for the parallel acquisition of the two types,” a senior Israeli source told Aerospace DAILY.

BOEING has $127.6m U.S. Air Force contract for B61-12 Life Extension Program.