Russia has not been able to establish air superiority in Ukraine despite a greater number of aircraft and a broad array of air-defense systems, and a senior U.S. Air Force leader said this struggle shows Russian forces are not operating in accordance with their own doctrine.
The U.S. Congress is moving forward with a government-wide spending bill that would provide $728.5 billion for the Defense Department in fiscal 2022, placing a priority on protection of the Indo-Pacific region, space capabilities and assistance for Ukraine.
The U.S. Army expects its costs for Future Vertical Lift programs to rise substantially over the next several years as the service down-selects its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft and Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft and moves into testing.
An omnibus spending bill approved by U.S. House and Senate appropriations committees on March 9 allocates $24 billion to NASA for fiscal 2022, a $770 million increase over its 2021 budget, but $760 million short of the Biden administration’s request for the year that began Oct. 1, 2021.
A U.S. Space Force (USSF) mission slated to launch aboard United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) next Atlas V has been delayed at the customer’s request, the company said on March 9.
Bell and Sikorsky both have passed the 85% assembly mark of their respective prototypes for the U.S. Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft competition, but are facing increasing schedule pressure due to the expected delayed delivery of T901 engines from General Electric.
Developed initially for a handful of test flights at its Gale Crater landing site on Mars, NASA’s small solar-powered Ingenuity drone helicopter has logged 20 flights as it graduated to become a reconnaissance asset for the Perseverance rover.
The F-35 Joint Program Office is expecting a cost-per-tail increase on the aircraft as negotiations with prime contractor Lockheed Martin continue beyond initial expected deadlines.
The French Navy is completing the test phases for two small unmanned air systems (UAS) and mulling the integration of more complex ones onto its future aircraft carrier.
A robotic applique that could turn a wide range of satellites into servicing spacecraft is to be flight-demonstrated under a contract awarded to Motiv Space Systems by the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit.
Dubbed “the USB for space,” a robotic connector enabling modular hardware to be attached to spacecraft has been delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) for spaceflight qualification.
Russian surface-to-air missile systems now have almost all of Ukraine’s airspace covered, though Russia still has not established full air superiority over the country, a senior U.S. defense official said March 8.
While the 2022 growth rate is well below the double digits achieved through the 1990s and early 2000s, in dollars it is $15 billion, the largest-ever annual increase.
The Royal Thai Air Force has written off a Block 15 F-16A after it crashed March 8 in the Chaiyaphum province, north of its Korat home base. The aircraft was on a training sortie, and the pilot ejected safely but with some injuries.
