AIRBUS HELICOPTERS’ second NH90 Sea Lion for German Navy performed first flight at Donauwörth Nov. 24. Deliveries to begin late 2019. THALES completed acquisition of UK-based startup AVEILLANT LTD. (holographic radar technology). LOCKHEED MARTIN has $37.7m U.S. Navy contract for software conversions for structure and systems datasets in support of F-35 Lot 10 production.
North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan Nov. 28, the U.S. Department of Defense announced, Pyongyang’s first missile launch since September.
NASA’s multibillion-dollar Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope is undergoing a near-term, top-to-bottom cost/benefit analysis and a descoping of the technically challenging coronagraph.
The U.S. aerospace and defense industry cemented its position as a key provider to the United Arab Emirates during the recent Dubai Airshow, one official says.
SpaceX’s latest fundraising round has netted almost $450 million, according to a Nov. 27 regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Malaysia has fielded a locally developed threat simulator to train its fighter pilots to deal with ground-based defensive systems such as surface-to-air missiles and radar-guided guns.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has a $462 million U.S. Army contract for 12 months of maintenance and repair support of already-fielded Gray Eagle UAVs. Lockheed Martin completed assembly and integration of the third GPS III satellite for the U.S. Air Force; it is being prepared to start environmental testing.
The U.S. Navy has awarded BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., of Nashua, New Hampshire, a $75.9 million contract for the new manufacture of T-1687/ALE-70(V) countermeasures in support of the PMA272 Air Expendable Countermeasures Program, the Pentagon has announced. The work will be performed in Nashua and is expected to be completed by March 2020. The Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity.
The NASA-led Mars InSight mission has successfully completed a prelaunch thermal vacuum test at a Lockheed Martin test facility in Littleton, Colorado.
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish Thursday, Nov. 23 and Friday, Nov. 24. The next issue of Aviation Daily will be dated Tuesday, Nov. 28.
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U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT approved $75m foreign military sale to Georgia of 410 Javelin missiles, 72 Javelin Command Launch Units, other equipment and support.
SUICIDE DRONES: ’In a return to the origins of unmanned aircraft and 1918’s Kettering Bug “aerial torpedo,” Poland Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz on Nov. 22 signed a contract for delivery of a batch of 1,000 Warmate lethal drones. Polish company WB Electronics’ Warmate has an operational range of around 6 mi., a top speed of about 90 mph, and can stay airborne for more than 30 min.
NanoRacks LLC logged the first deployments from the International Space Station of 6U CubeSats in the more mission-capable 2U-by-3U form factor early Nov. 21
