Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Two Aerospatiale SA 341/342 Gazelle light helicopters crashed Feb. 2 near Carces lake in Southeast France, killing five occupants.

RAYTHEON has $2.3b U.S. Army contract for engineering services supporting Patriot missile defense system.

Having overcome its battery design challenges, NASA is now testing the motors for its X-57 Maxwell electric propulsion demonstrator as it moves toward flight tests this year.

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The Pentagon’s arms-buying operation has been split into two new groups: the undersecretaries of defense for acquisition and sustainment (A&S) and research and engineering (R&E).

Kopter is the new name for the fledgling Swiss helicopter manufacturer Marenco Swisshelicopter.

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) plans to deploy the Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone helicopter operationally this summer.

The French Army expects the Airbus H160M helicopter to take on the missions currently performed by the Aerospatiale Gazelle when the H160M enters service.

U.S. rocket companies have until April 6 to bid on the next batch of U.S. Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) space launch missions.

Flight testing of the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System in the F-35 will begin in September after the decision to speed up implementation.

Three small U.S. aerospace companies are forging ties to foster a commercial global optical communications network.

Ahead of the Pentagon’s fiscal 2019 budget release, six senators have thrown their support behind a re-engining of the Boeing B-52H.

ORBITAL ATK has $10.5m U.S. Army contract for 13,990 120mm tank training ammunition M865 recapitalized cartridges.

SpaceX postponed the planned launch of the GovSat-1 spacecraft by 24 hr. to allow for the replacement of a sensor on the Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soared off its Cape Canaveral launch pad Jan. 31 to put a communications satellite into orbit for SES and Luxembourg.

The U.S. Air Force has suspended indefinitely all solo flights in the T-6A Texan II training aircraft due to Unexplained Physiological Events.

The MDA and Raytheon Missile Systems are refusing to confirm or deny reports that the latest Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 2A intercept test has failed.

Textron investors registered their disappointment with the company’s 2017 performance Jan. 31, trimming share prices by 2.5%.

Auditors have finally confirmed independent estimates of a £21 billion deficit facing the UK defense ministry’s 10-year, £180 billion equipment plan.

Boeing remains in “active” and “productive” discussions with Embraer and Brazil's government over a potential alignment, Boeing’s chief executive said Jan. 31.

SpaceX has been granted a five-year operators license from the FAA to launch communications satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral.

The European Space Agency has selected Airbus as prime contractor to develop the next iteration of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service.

The company this week released the first images of its T-X cockpit, revealing a 21st century knobless and switchless touchscreen large-area display.

The Defense Department’s new director of operational test and evaluation believes the F-35's new modernization plan is "not executable" within its planned timeline.

This week sees a flurry of international launch activity­—On Tuesday a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying SES-16/GovSat 1 is due to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.