Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Bradley Perrett
Australia has declared the Leonardo-Finmeccanica C-27J Spartan initially operational, 18 months after accepting the first unit into service.
Defense and Space

By Marhalim Abas
The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale of two Saab Sea Giraffe 3D air search radars for the Philippine navy.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
German missile manufacturer Diehl Defense has completed a series of trials with Norway to prove that its IRIS-T air-to-air missile can also engage ground targets.
Defense and Space

By Jay Menon
India and Russia plan to extend the range of their jointly developed BrahMos supersonic cruise missile beyond its current 300-km (190-mi.) limit.
Defense and Space

ARGENTINA approved $2.5b military modernization program incl. aircraft, patrol vessels, armored vehicles and combat rifles.

Hexcel, a major provider of advanced composites and carbon fiber, has made a “strategic” investment in Carbon Conversions Inc.

By Michael Tint
View the Fleet Snapshot: French Air Force Piloted Aircraft chart in PDF format.

By Mark Carreau
New findings by NASA’s long-running Dawn mission suggest that ice lies just a meter or so below the cratered surface of the large main belt asteroid Ceres.
Defense and Space

An Orbital ATK Pegasus air-launched rocket orbited eight small weather-monitoring satellites Dec. 15.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA leads the rankings among the largest U.S. federal agencies as the best place to work in 2016, the fifth year in a row it has earned the top distinction.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
The design of Amazon’s delivery drone has evolved since CEO Jeff Bezos revealed the company’s Prime Air concept in December 2013.
Defense and Space

June 2, 2016, will forever be remembered as an unlucky day for the U.S. military’s premier flying aerobatic demonstration teams, the Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds.
Defense and Space

By Jen DiMascio
The U.S. State Department is reviewing the potential sale of precision munitions to Saudi Arabia, in light of concerns about thousands of civilian deaths due to Saudi airstrikes in Yemen.
Defense and Space

The Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Navy have intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) target using Raytheon’s Standard Missile-6 Dual 1 for the first time.
Defense and Space

SAFRAN HELICOPTER ENGINES has €180m ($190m), 10-year contract with NATO Helicopter Management Agency to support 130 RTM322-powered NH90s operated by France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Starburst Accelerator and Leonie Hill Capital have announced a $200 million venture capital fund and expect to begin operations as soon as next quarter.

By Joe Anselmo, Jen DiMascio
Raytheon CEO Tom Kennedy recently sat down in his office at the company’s Waltham, Massachusetts, headquarters with Aviation Week.

By Graham Warwick
NASA is flight-testing a display that could be used by any supersonic aircraft to manage the noise created by sonic booms.

By Thierry Dubois
Europe’s Galileo global positioning, navigation and timing satellite constellation is to begin providing services to users on Dec. 15, 17 years after the European Commission approved the project.
Defense and Space

U.S. Marine Forces Japan has suspended Bell-Boeing MV-22 flying operations after one of its assigned tiltrotors, worth about $80 million, crash landed in shallow waters off the coast of Okinawa due to a midair refueling mishap.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s Juno mission spacecraft soared close to Jupiter for a third time Dec. 11 with all but one of eight science instruments and cameras gathering data on features hidden below the planet’s colorful cloud tops.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
The Italian air force has taken delivery of the first two of four maritime patrol derivatives of the ATR-72-600 regional airliner.
Defense and Space

By Michael Bruno
The aerospace and defense supply chain stands at another inflection point for companies, especially at lower tiers. Many face pressures to grow or get out, analysts and executives say.
Defense and Space

By Jay Menon
India’s state-run space agency has partnered with an Indian defense company on the construction of new navigation satellites—part of a broader effort to engage with the country’s private sector.
Defense and Space

SAAB completed two-day seminar in Brussels with 40 Belgian companies active in aerospace to explore potential cooperation on Gripen fighter.