Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The Saras light transport aircraft has completed its second test flight in two months, rekindling hopes of a revival of India's civil aircraft program.

Bell Helicopter has dropped the term “Helicopter” from its name in a radical rebranding.

Sikorsky has begun final assembly of the U.S. Air Force’s first future Combat Rescue Helicopter, the HH-60W, in Stratford, Connecticut, the company says.

In the run-up to the Air Force Association's annual air warfare symposium, Secretary Heather Wilson says the service is looking to pivot from the counterterrorism fight in the Middle East to preparing for a potential clash with China.

NASA’s aging Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which doubles as a communications relay for the Curiosity and Opportunity surface rovers, is undergoing a troubleshooting session following a Feb. 15 low battery voltage event.

Leidos, Reston, Virginia (W5J9CQ-18-D-0001); and General Dynamics One Source, Fairfax, Virginia (W5J9CQ-18-D-0002), will share in a $200,000,000 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract for noncommercial technical services to assist in coordination, integration, and synchronization of geospatial information requirements and standards across the U.S. Army

ISRAEL AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES, U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Israel Missile Defense Organization completed flight test of the Arrow 3 weapons system Feb. 19 at test site in central Israel.

The Flight Safety Foundation is calling on the ICAO to expedite the development of global standards for regulating small drones.

As the USAF launches a new program to replace the B-52H's TF33 engines, turbofan manufacturers are getting serious about their propulsion system offerings.

Japan will expand its planned fleet of F-35s by at least 20, possibly forgoing local assembly to economize in buying the next batch, Reuters says.

The British government is drawing up a long-awaited future combat aircraft strategy which could outline how Britain will replace the Eurofighter Typhoon.

The U.S. State Department has given the green light to a Dutch request to upgrade its existing fleet of Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.

Liftoff of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket carrying GOES-S from Cape Canaveral s scheduled during a two-hour window that opens at 5:02 p.m. EST March 1.

India is planning to launch its second space observatory—Astrosat-2—to conduct further studies in astronomy and astrophysics.

Sikorsky’s pre-award protest over the U.S. Air Force’s UH-1N Replacement competition is being interpreted by some as the Lockheed Martin-owned company “freaking out” about Sierra Nevada Corp.’s competing “Force Hawk” proposal.

Bigelow Aerospace plans to stand up the Bigelow Space Operations venture and exercise a cooperative agreement with Casis.

The USAF has decided to buy F-35s more slowly because of snowballing retrofit costs and several critical milestones that have not been completed.

View the Leader Spotlight: U.S. Air Force Brig Gen. Lance Bunch in PDF format.

India’s state-run military aircraft maker HAL is ready to transfer the tech of its Dhruv helicopter to a local private manufacturer for commercial production.

The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, which manages the U.S. National Lab elements of the ISS, is searching for a new executive director.

Leonardo has pushed back the timeline for the certification of its AW609 commercial tiltrotor by another year in a bid to further mature the aircraft.

Boeing and Oerlikon Group have signed a five-year deal to develop standard materials and processes for metal-based additive manufacturing.

GE and Ansys have a new, “multiyear” agreement that helps in part with multiphysics solutions in ground-based and on-wing gas turbine engines.

India now is aiming to launch its second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2, in April, after previously targeting a March liftoff.

Vodafone will begin trials of a 4G wireless-based radio positioning system for tracking small drones and also intervening with their operation if necessary.