Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Aerospace additive manufactured and titanium parts provider Norsk Titanium of Norway has received an investment from Silicon Valley-based Applied Ventures.

View the Forecast Friday: Western-Designed Military Aircraft In-Service Fleets - 2017 chart in PDF format.

The Sikorsky X2 technology demonstrator that spawned the S-97 Raider and SB-1 Defiant has been retired to the Udvar-Hazy National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia.
Defense and Space

By Bradley Perrett
Chinese missile and space group Casic is preparing to build a medium-capacity launcher while also moving into liquid-propellant technology.
Zhuhai

By Tony Osborne
U.S. light helicopter manufacturer Robinson Helicopters says New Zealand’s civil aviation regulatory environment needs to better harmonize with the U.S. if it is to resolve concerns over the safety of its aircraft.
Defense and Space

By Michael Bruno
According to a new report by Govini, the aerospace and defense sector should pay far more attention than usual on down-ballot election campaigns, particularly in congressional districts.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
New Lone Star Flight Museum CEO Douglas H. Owens pledges to keep a modest but mostly flyable collection of historically significant aircraft airworthy as the gallery transitions from its first home in Galveston to Houston’s Ellington Airport.

By Tony Osborne
Leonardo-Finmeccanica has performed the first flight of an upgraded and navalized Merlin Mk. 4 for Britain’s Royal Navy.
Defense and Space

By Thierry Dubois
The European Space Agency is investigating the crash of its Schiaparelli entry, descent and landing module on Mars on Oct. 19.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
Although there is enthusiasm about anticipated advances in astronomy and astrophysics promised by NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, cost and schedule concerns could jeopardize funding for mid- and smaller-scale initiatives.
Defense and Space

By Bradley Perrett
Long March 5, the critical launcher for China’s space program over the coming decade, flew for the first time on Nov. 3, demonstrating the country’s advances in hydrogen-fueled propulsion.
Defense and Space

LOCKHEED MARTIN has $536.4m U.S. Air Force contract for F-22 sustainment services.

Leading aerostructures provider Spirit AeroSystems is looking for so-called bolt-on acquisitions and more savings from its supply chain.

The U.S. Navy has confirmed that its fifth Mobile User Objective System satellite has begun testing and will not become a multimillion-dollar piece of space junk, despite not quite reaching its intended geosynchronous orbit.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
A NASA facility designed to allow full-scale ground testing of multi-megawatt hybrid electric powertrains for future single-aisle aircraft has begun initial small-scale tests at Plum Brook Station in Ohio.

By Graham Warwick
An initial flight demonstration of airframe noise reduction technology developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has shown lower sound levels from modified aircraft flaps.

By Graham Warwick
An aircraft seen hovering at Hollister Municipal Airport, California, is likely the secretive Zee.Aero’s electric-powered vertical-takeoff-and-landing design.

The Marine Corps has already witnessed the Insitu RQ-21 Blackjack fly for 19 hr. with a 30-lb. payload before dropping out of the sky. But but what if it could continue flying for another nine days?
Defense and Space

NASA and its congressional funders are not keeping pace with the demand for space-based data on Planet Earth, the NASA inspector general’s office reports.
Defense and Space

Despite troubles maintaining its old and shrinking inventory of Boeing AGM-86B air-launched cruise missiles, the U.S. Air Force says speeding up development and fielding of the follow-on Long-Range Standoff weapon is not the answer.
Defense and Space

LOCKHEED MARTIN’s F-35B began third shipboard phase of development tests (DT-III) on Oct. 28 from amphibious assault ship USS America.

Specialty metals provider Alcoa officially split into two companies Nov. 1, with its aerospace and defense engineering solutions half formally becoming Arconic.

By Michael Tint
View the Fleet Snapshot: Worldwide Airbus Helicopters Super Puma Fleets chart in PDF format.

The Pentagon has unilaterally issued a $6 billion F-35 contract to Lockheed Martin without first securing a mutual agreement, signaling ongoing discord.
Defense and Space

Completion of the business end of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) keeps it on track for launch in October 2018, according to program managers.
Defense and Space