The Japanese defense ministry’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency estimates it would cost 646.5 billion yen ($5.61 billion) to upgrade and operate 68 Mitsubishi F-15Js from 2019-49, the agency announced Feb. 4.
NASA has selected Lockheed Martin Space of Littleton, Colorado, to develop a Mars Ascent Vehicle, a small rocket capable of launching samples of Martian rock, soil and air gathered by the agency’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover for return to Earth.
Two new-build Falcons will be acquired, replacing the long-serving BAe 146 regional airliners that have been used for the RAF’s Command Support Air Transport (CSAT) mission.
Potential military missions for the aircraft include “island hopping and distributed cargo logistics in the Indo-Pacific theater or operations in areas with limited infrastructure like Africa,” an Electra executive says.
The investment fully funds E-Space’s Beta 1 launch of its first test satellites in March, as well as its Beta 2 launch “later” this year, the company says.
The U.S. Army is expected to bear the brunt of budget cutbacks when the Pentagon’s spending plan is finally rolled out, and that could require some bold moves including ending what the service had said is its top aviation procurement priority.
A new 70-page report on the oft-ignored topic of hypersonic defense opens with a first line that neither sugarcoats the scale of the challenge nor wishes it away.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s upgraded Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-T—the third in the GOES-R series of weather observation and environmental monitoring spacecraft—is undergoing preparations for a March 1 launch.
The Swiss government claims that its future fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35s will have similar noise levels on an annual basis than its current fleet of fighters, despite the aircraft being measured as 3 dB louder during takeoff than the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.
The UK is moving to bolster its burgeoning sustainable space sector with government funding for projects to advance capabilities ranging from situational awareness to debris removal.
A team including former NASA Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk has unveiled a new business venture to develop and operate a reconfigurable robotic outpost and space tug in cislunar space, with an eye on providing payload hosting, communications, in-space transportation, remote sensing and other services to commercial and government customers, including the Defense Department.
Move faster and don’t be afraid to fail. That was the message from top Pentagon leaders to a group of more than a dozen company leaders on Feb. 3 during a virtual meeting urging faster adoption of hypersonic weapons in the face of Chinese advancement.
The U.S. ambassador to Greece has said the country is likely to be approved by the U.S. government to purchase the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, but it will be a minimum of five years before Athens will receive aircraft.
The first Boeing P-8A Poseidon destined for the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) has emerged from the paint shop, sporting the emblem of the 61 Patrol Air Group.
Boeing says successful tests of an all-composite cryogenic fuel tank at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center clear the way for large-scale application of the lightweight technology in future spacecraft and aircraft.
