Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Tony Osborne
Saudi Arabia has taken the wraps off an indigenous armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
The changes could affect the not only the physical performance of human explorers assigned to deep-space missions, but also their performance upon returning to Earth, including responding to possible landing emergencies.
Defense and Space

NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPACE & MISSION SYSTEMS CORP. has $332m U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) contract to continue providing MDA with enterprise-level technical integration; support the definition, development, and test and evaluation of integrated missile defense capabilities; and provide IT services, among other tasks.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Heather Wilson, a former Republican member of the House of Representatives, to be President Donald Trump’s Secretary of the Air Force on May 8. The Senate voted 76-22 in favor, with all 22 “no” votes coming from Democrats. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was one of the most outspoken opponents of Wilson’s confirmation, condemning the “scandal” surrounding her previous work as a federal contractor and her “derogatory” statements concerning members of the LGBT community in a May 8 press release.

View the Pilatus PC-21 Spec Showecase in PDF format. Description : The PC-21 is a Swiss basic flight trainer built by Pilatus. The aircraft is powered by one Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A large series series turbine engine. Program Name Pilatus PC-21 Designation PC-21 Type Trainer

By Tony Osborne
The Turkish and British governments have ratified their agreements to allow BAE Systems and Turkish Aerospace Industries to cooperate on the development of an indigenous Turkish fighter.
Defense and Space

Saab’s beastly-looking anti-ship cruise missile, the RBS15, is to be upgraded and installed on Sweden’s new E-series JAS 39 Gripen and Visby-class corvette.
Defense and Space

By Bradley Perrett
Australia will increase military spending by 5.6% for the coming fiscal year as it targets a defense budget of 2% of gross domestic product within four years.
Defense and Space

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) this September will hold the first of what officials hope will be a yearly event concerning small UAS.
Defense and Space

As Saab prepares to fly its newest JAS 39 Gripen E-series aircraft some time in the next couple of months, the company still is waging determined international sales campaigns for its in-production C/D model.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Turkish Aerospace Industries has taken the covers off its T625 twin-engine medium helicopter.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
Airbus has formed a U.S.-based company, called Airbus Aerial, to bring together commercial satellite and unmanned aircraft remote sensing to provide data collection and image processing services to large and global enterprise customers.
Defense and Space

By Bradley Perrett
Japan is considering an acquisition of Raytheon BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles, Kyodo news agency says.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
A year after forming a commercial business unit in a bid to expand out of its core defense market, unmanned aircraft manufacturer Insitu has unveiled a revamped suite of remote-sensing and information-processing services.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
Logos Technologies’s Redkite sensor has captured and streamed wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) to multiple handheld devices in flight tests on Insitu’s Integrator tactical unmanned aircraft system (UAS).
Defense and Space

NASA shipped payload module for James Webb Space Telescope from Goddard Space Flight Center, MD, to Johnson Space Center, TX, May 8 for final tests prior to 2018 launch. BOEING has $143.4m U.S. Army foreign military sales contract for a directed change for Saudi Arabia National Guard II and III unique modifications to 24 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters. Work to be complete April 1, 2022.

Tuesday morning the Senate Armed Services Committee will discuss the state of U.S. Cyber Command with its chief, U.S. Navy Adm. Michael Rogers, who also serves as director of the National Security Agency. That afternoon the same committee considers three Pentagon nominations—David Norquist to be the next Pentagon comptroller, Elaine McCusker to be Norquist’s deputy, and Robert Daigle to head the Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation group.

Selected U.S. military contracts for May 1, 2017. U.S. NAVY

The Swedish Air Force has little interest in any of the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation T-X trainer candidates except the Boeing/Saab offer, but is not ready to rule them in or out as potential SK 60 replacements.
Aircraft & Propulsion

Boeing and the U.S. Air Force recently demonstrated that the stealthy F-22 Raptor can securely communicate with the F-15C and other legacy aircraft in real-time over an advanced networking pod.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
AeroVironment has delivered the first 20 Snipe Nano Quad miniature unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to a U.S. government customer.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Rolls-Royce and Turkish engineering firm Kale Group are to establish a joint venture which will initially develop an engine for Turkey’s indigenous fighter, the TF-X.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
A Rapid Capability Office set up by the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) is to work with Leonardo to further develop its BriteCloud expendable decoy system.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
Swift Engineering has completed autonomous marine flight tests on its Swift020 vertical-takeoff-and-landing small unmanned aircraft system (UAS).
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
Lockheed Martin’s Procerus Technologies has introduced an all-weather, military-grade Indago 3 version of its commercial small unmanned aircraft system (UAS).
Defense and Space