Defense and Space

Lockheed Martin plans in the “near future” to demonstrate a high energy laser with a level of efficiency that approaches the U.S. Defense Department’s threshold for airborne applications, a company executive says.

To keep up with hypersonic missile advancements by Russia, United States and, most importantly, China, Taiwan is reportedly standing up a hypersonic technology research and development office.

Poland’s PGZ-Narew joint venture, which is developing the country’s Narew ground-based short-range air defense system, has signed agreements with MBDA to supply the missiles for its program.

Capella Space has raised $97 million through a Series C financing round that it plans to spend on further developing its automated image analysis software and next-generation satellites.

Ahead of its centennial, legendary rotorcraft company Sikorsky Aircraft is seeing several opportunities for growth, the company CEO says.

The curriculum for engineering must expand to include flexible interdisciplinary coursework and hands-on laboratory experience.

Kelle Wendling is the president of Space Systems at L3 Harris Technologies.

NASA’s long-running sample return mission to the asteroid Bennu has received a nine-year, $200 million extension.

For its Defiant X helicopter, Sikorsky and Boeing have selected Honeywell’s engine and power systems technology.

NASA is preparing to return the Space Launch System Moon rocket and Orion capsule to the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on April 25, following a pair of abbreviated tanking tests at the launchpad.

The U.S. Marine Corps says the Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion reached the initial operational capability milestone on April 22, completing a 17-year journey from the award of the development contract in 2005.

A modernization effort for the Lockheed Martin F-35 will take three more years and cost about $741 million more to complete, the watchdog arm of Congress said April 25.

BRAZILIAN AIR FORCE agreed to purchase two A330-200s (TBA) from Azul for conversion to MRTTs; negotiations to convert aircraft will begin in the

NASA has a strategy to secure the second of two circular solar arrays that failed to fully deploy and latch following the launch of the $989 million Lucy mission.

A prolonged, privately financed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) ended on April 25 with the return of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule chartered by Houston-based Axiom Space.

Three test failures in one year first earned a demotion for the hypersonic Lockheed Martin AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, and then they invited a death sentence.

Poland looks set to choose between two U.S.-produced rotorcraft to fulfill its long-running attack helicopter requirement. Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak confirmed on April 21 that Warsaw is mulling offers for two attack helicopters: one from Bell, likely for the AH-1Z Viper, and a second from Boeing for the AH-64 Apache.

Angola is the latest customer for the maritime patrol variant of Airbus’ C295 twin-turboprop airlifter.

The four-member Axiom-1 private astronaut mission departed the International Space Station on April 24, ending the first U.S.-backed commercial flight to the orbital outpost and clearing the docking port for the arrival of the next ISS resident crew later this week.

The space sector has unique propellants when it comes to M&A, which is likely to create a “melt-up.”

Airbus advances X-plane; BAE joins GE on hybrid; Seaglider takes to water; Cross-country on hydrogen; and manufacturing LH2 tanks.

More Asian states are building their own missiles to keep up with new threats.

Dr. Bernard A. Harris, a retired NASA astronaut and flight surgeon and the first African-American to conduct a spacewalk, has been inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame.

The U.S. Navy has released the first detailed plans in the fiscal 2023 budget request for a fast-tracked acquisition of a new hypersonic missile for carrier-based fighters.

Brazil announced plans to buy four more Saab Gripen F-39 fighters on April 22, raising the quantity in the initial batch of the single-engine aircraft to 40.