Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

NASA believes it is resolving recent difficulties with the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3.

Israel’s state-owned Rafael is offering to buy the public company Aeronautics.

Isotropic Systems has raised $14 million in Series A venture capital in a round led by Boeing HorizonX Ventures.

Aireon has signed a $200 million credit facility agreement with a group of independent investor funds, but led by Deutsche Bank.

LOCKHEED MARTIN has $131.6m U.S. Air Force contract for C‐5 sustainment.

This week, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history wears on, with no immediate end in sight.

Navistar Defense LLC, Lisle, Illinois, was awarded an $8,069,336 fixed-firm-price Foreign Military Sales (Iraq) contract for Navistar transport and cargo vehicles.

A previously-confirmed Chinese strategic bomber and a newly acknowledged stealth “fighter-bomber” are both now under development, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The deployment of ScanEagle unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) on U.S. Coast Guard national security cutters is on hold because of the partial government shutdown.

The USAF is calling for startups and small businesses to submit proposals for Pitch Day as part of a rapid contracting effort.

Airbus’ Silicon Valley outpost A3 (“A-Cubed”) has competed the second Vahana electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) technology demonstrator.

Argentinian startup Satellogic has signed a contract with China Great Wall Industry Corp. for five-six Long March rocket launches.

Raytheon will install the APG-79(v)4 radar on the U.S. Marine Corps’ remaining Boeing F/A-18C/Ds by 2022.

A modest but intense protest was held outside the gates of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) on Jan. 15 against the record partial U.S. government shutdown.

Japan plans to develop indigenous standoff jamming aircraft based on the Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) C-2 airlifter and P-1 maritime patroller, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.

The Ukrainian government will purchase armed versions of the Baykar Makina Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicle from Turkey, making it the second export customer for the system.

The U.S. Army plans to demonstrate a small UAS that can be launched from its manned helicopters and unmanned aircraft and controlled from the cockpit.

The FAA will soon publish a proposed reg that would allow flights of small drones for commercial purposes at night and over people under certain conditions.

The global combat aircraft market will grow at a “phenomenal” compound annual growth rate of 39% to 2026, consultancy Frost & Sullivan said in its new forecast.

French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly signed a contract on Jan. 14 for the development of the Dassault Rafale F4 standard.

Nine Northrop Grumman E-2D airborne early warning aircraft that Japan plans to buy over the coming five fiscal years will cost an average of $242 million each.

China’s Chang’e 4 lunar mission is overcoming the challenges of rough terrain on the far side of the Moon.

SpaceX’s 16th NASA-contracted Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station splashed down early Jan. 14 in the Pacific Ocean.

Azerbaijan has acquired the Elbit Systems SkyStriker loitering weapon system as part of its plan to acquire autonomous strike capabilities.

Nearly $3 billion worth of venture capital (VC) was invested in space companies in 2018, according to a new update from Space Angels.