Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Upgrades to Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) are a possibility, the defense department in Canberra said.

The Indonesian police force has taken delivery of a single Airbus C295 airlifter, four months ahead of schedule.

In a bid for improved aircraft availability, the French minister of the armed forces is reorganizing maintenance contracts for the country’s military aircraft.

DARPA plans to invest more than $2 billion in artificial intelligence efforts, according to agency director Stephen Walker.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully placed the Telestar 18 Vantage/APSTAR 5C communications satellite in a geostationary transfer orbit early Sept. 10 following launch from Cape Canaveral.

Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is being awarded an $11,603,840 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for operational and support services to the Aegis Combat System and its elements.

The USMC is looking to upgrade its Sikorsky CH-53E fleet with a stabilized approach, hover and landing capability for operations in degraded visual environments.

Development of the UH-X upgrade of the Bell 412 utility helo by Subaru is on schedule, partly thanks to limited development ambitions and specification changes.

Iridium Next, Iridium’s replacement constellation with improved capability for global communications, is close to completion.

The U.S. Air Force has revived a decade-old concept for a new version of the AGM-158 Jassm with potentially five times more range than the original version.

The U.S. Marine Corps is assessing its potential force structure options to accommodate a light attack aircraft.

When it comes to the Trump administration’s pending defense industrial base study, do not expect a deep and detailed report for public consumption.

The U.S. Army wants to buy potentially thousands of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that costs about $4,000 each.

Airbus Ventures has invested in a U.S. startup developing a commercial unmanned aircraft capable of flying for up to 2 hr. on batteries only.

MD Helicopters delivered the first five MD 530F Cayuse Warrior attack helicopters to the Afghan Air Force on Sept. 10.

India has successfully conducted the first-ever midair refueling of its indigenously-developed light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas.

Russian Helicopters has signed contracts to supply 104 Ansat light and 46 Mi-8AMT medium helicopters for air ambulance services across Russia.

A months-late first flight date for a ducted fan unmanned air system (UAS) designed by a Lockheed Martin/Piasecki team has been reset to October.

A British entrant into the fledgling urban air mobility business has lifted the veil on its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air vehicle.

Sikorsky-owned PZL Mielec has delivered an M28 utility transport to the Ecuadorian army, the company announced Sept. 10.

L3 TECHNOLOGIES has $9.2m U.S. Air Force contract for Agile Small-Satellite Experimental Telescope.

The Indian Army has ordered a high-altitude unmanned aircraft system developed by Israeli company Bluebird Aero Systems.

Sept. 12-13—Aero-Engines Europe, Hamburg, Germany. For more information go to http://www.ndia.org/events/2018/9/17/8240---undersea

SAIC is buying Engility for around $2.5 billion, the companies said Sept. 10.

Dawn, NASA’s 11-year, first-ever mission to orbit two relics from the formation of the Solar System’s planets in the main asteroid belt, is drawing to a close.