Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The acquisition program could take the form of a domestic developmental effort or a foreign off-the-shelf purchase, defense ministry officials said in an interview.

The Pentagon completed the first comprehensive IOT&E for the Northrop Grumman-manufactured MQ-8C Fire Scout aboard Littoral Combat Ship USS Coronado.

NASA’s Kepler spacecraft is apparently running low on fuel following a successful but challenging nine years of observing stars within the Milky Way.

Italy could stop purchases of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the country’s new defense minister has warned.

The first static hot firing of the P120C rocket motor is about to take place at Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, according to the ESA.

Switzerland has issued a request for proposals for its future fighter, with pricing for fleets of 30 and 40 aircraft.

Japan is seeking Aegis Ashore capability levels that are not yet available, defense ministry officials say.

Airbus is reporting progress for two missions in Solar System exploration and exoplanet characterization—the Mars Sample Return mission and the Cheops satellite.

India’s national space agency will launch at least 40 rockets into space in the next four years to shore up the country’s launch capability.

European industry needs to unite around one fighter program to compete with U.S. rivals, Airbus officials have suggested. European industry is currently producing three different fighters, the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Dassault Rafale and the Saab Gripen.

Malaysia has qualified three fighter types to receive fuel in flight from the Airbus A400M Atlas airlifter.

AVIATION WEEK NETWORK forecasts that the world’s fleet of western-designed fighter aircraft will generate $260 billion in maintenance, repair and

ROLLS-ROYCE has $420m U.S. Air Force contract for AE 3007H (F137) engine-sustainment services.

The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (Casis), which manages research activities of U.S. National Lab assets aboard the International Space Station, has selected Joseph Vockley, a molecular geneticist, as its new president and executive director.

The F-35 Defense Acquisition Board meeting to finalize Joint Strike Fighter follow-on development is delayed because entrance criteria needed for the meeting are incomplete.

NASA has initiated a two-phase effort leading to a possible February 2019 contract award for a second Mobile Launcher at Kennedy Space Center for the Space Launch System heavy rocket.

Norwegian H225 crash probers are urging that Airbus revise the design of the helicopter’s main gearbox to improve its “robustness, reliability and safety.”

IHI Corp. has delivered the prototype for Japan’s fighter engine technology acquisition program to the defense ministry.

AeroVironment is helping NASA’s JPL develop an autonomous helicopter that is planned to fly over the Red Planet during the Mars 2020 rover mission.

Airbus CEO Tom Enders has accused the British government of having “no clue, or no consensus” on how to achieve Brexit without severe harm.

Britain’s aviation industry could be left in a state of near paralysis in the event of a hard Brexit, UK aerospace trade association ADS has warned.

Singapore has declared its Rafael Spyder short-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems fully operational, seven years after they entered service.

The flying display at this year’s Farnborough International Airshow will include an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, show organizers have confirmed.

The company says it applied knowledge of advanced composite aircraft structures to develop integrated fuel tanks in a large-scale wing box test article and a full-scale wing skin pre-production validation article.

NATO’s Evolved Seasparrow Missile (ESSM) Block 2 has completed a successful flight test intercept of a BQM-74E aerial target, the U.S. Navy says.