Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Aerojet Rocketdyne plans to use its new partnership with the U.S. Air Force and United Launch Alliance to complete the AR1 engine for a kerosene-fueled version of ULA’s planned Vulcan launcher.
Defense and Space

By Michael Bruno
Honeywell International said early March 1 it would no longer pursue a merger with United Technologies under the terms the companies discussed last month.

By Tony Osborne
Airbus Helicopters has lifted the veil on a common weapon system which it plans to offer to help arm its family of dual-purpose helicopters.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Airbus Helicopters is set to prove the concept of a lean manufacturing process to speed up assembly of its new twin-engine H160 medium helicopter.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) has completed its first test flight following a battery system upgrade and ahead of restarting its solar-powered round-the-world flight attempt in April from Hawaii.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Airbus Helicopters is planning to demonstrate its H215 – the modernized variant of the Super Puma twin-engine heavy helicopter – to several U.S. government agencies.
Defense and Space

The U.S. Navy is worried about the number of missiles it has in its collective quiver, Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, told the House Appropriations Committee.
Defense and Space

By Guy Norris
After years of western rotary wing dominance, Russian helicopter manufacturers will take over the top slot as the single largest force in global sales over the next five years, the American Helicopter Society (AHS) predicts.
Defense and Space

By Guy Norris
Bell Helicopter is believed to have attached the wings to the fuselage of its V-280 Valor tiltrotor, marking a key step toward completion of the company’s advanced-rotorcraft technology demonstrator for the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi-Role (JMR) program.
Defense and Space

By Bradley Perrett
United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) is due to begin deliveries of Sukhoi Su-35 fighters to China this year, with engineers of the Chinese aeronautics industry possibly looking forward to the arrival of the aircraft just as much as the air force is.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Airbus is hoping to certify an increase in the maximum takeoff weight of its H175 intermediate-heavy helicopter by the end of this year.
Defense and Space

While the debate continues to simmer about the cost and need for maintaining the nation’s aircraft fleet, the U.S Navy is moving ahead with the refueling complex overhaul (RCOH) of CVN 73 USS George Washington.
Defense and Space

EUROPEAN COMMISSION will speed up deployment of Galileo satellites by adding an Arianespace Soyuz launch carrying two satellites in May 2016, in addition to four already scheduled on Ariane 5 ES during 4Q 2016. NASA licensed UAV comms technology to VIGILANT AEROSPACE SYSTEMS, OK. Integrated C2 system is capable of collision warnings, real-time traffic/weather updates.

Weapons exports have increased by 14% in the last five years compared with the 2006-10 timeframe, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The U.S. and Russia made up the largest share of sales – 58% between them. The third largest exporter, China, saw its exports grow by 88%, though its share of the market of international weapons sales is still just 5.9%. And more than two-thirds of Chinese weapons are being exported to neighbors of India – Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. For a complete list of Aviation Week Network’s upcoming events, and to register, visit www.aviationweek.com/events (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Mar. 3—Laureate Awards, The National Building Museum, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.awin.aviationweek.com/events

Aerojet Rocketdyne has won the lion’s share of new government work to develop a U.S. alternative to Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Almost two years after the Swiss populace voted down proposals to replace the country’s F-5 Tiger fighters with the Saab JAS-39 Gripen, Switzerland’s government has restarted evaluations for a future fighter.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
NASA is funding Lockheed Martin to complete preliminary design of an X-plane demonstrator to show whether the shock-wave signature of a 100-120-seat low-boom supersonic airliner would be acceptable to the public, clearing the way for supersonic flight over land.
Space

By Tony Osborne
Bell CEO Mitch Snyder has suggested the company is wrestling with options for its next generation of clean sheet design helicopters.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has flown a version of the Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper Extended Range (ER) unmanned aircraft with a new wing to further increase endurance.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
The Last Man on the Moon, a moving film documentary that explores the life of former U.S. astronaut Gene Cernan, opened in select theaters across the U.S. last weekend.
Space

By Jay Menon
India has allocated 2.58 trillion rupees ($38.6 billion) to defense spending for its 2016-17 fiscal year, a marginal increase of 9.7% over last year’s revised estimates of 2.33 trillion rupees.
Defense and Space

Researchers at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) are in the very early stages of developing a futuristic vessel that soars like an aircraft across water at more than 100 kt.
Defense and Space

GENERAL ATOMICS signed agreement to acquire MILTEC CORP. from DUCOMMUN INC. Miltec will be functionally aligned...

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) is pressing the Obama administration to free up stalled Foreign Military Sales.