Defense and Space

Joby Aviation has formally added a second preproduction prototype to the test program for its S4 tiltprop electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxi.

The Netherlands is sending its new MQ-9 Reaper medium-altitude, long-endurance platforms to the Caribbean as part of a shakedown and evaluation of the new aircraft.

Bradley Feldmann has left Cubic’s corner office as the new private owners of the storied 70-year-old defense contractor appoint new leadership.

Dassault Aviation delivered 25 Rafale fighters to export customers in 2021, compared to 13 in 2020.

Norway’s F-35s have now taken on the mantle of NATO’s Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) duties from the F-16, operating from newly established facilities within the Arctic Circle.

Scaled Composites has unveiled a concept for an optionally piloted, high-altitude aircraft capable of carrying modular payloads up to 10,000 lb.

NATO fighters were scrambled the equivalent of more than once a day during 2021, mostly in response to Russian military flights.

Japan F-15 upgrade contract awarded; F-35’s 2021 deliveries; L3Harris sheds aviation systems; U.S., Israel agree on helo, tanker sales.

Virgin Orbit’s disappointing stock debut marks the end of the beginning of the special purpose acquisition company phenomenon.

The Air Force’s highest-end fighter faces early retirement; leaders say replacement needed to counter China

Don’t confuse public handwringing about hiring struggles in A&D with actual lost business. Robots will protect the bottom line.

A Republic of Korea Air Force Lockheed Martin F-35A was saved Jan. 4 when the pilot chose to land the aircraft on its belly following an inflight mechanical malfunction.

Blue Origin is joining the U.S. military’s effort to possibly use rockets to transport people and cargo.

A North Korean news agency claims the hypersonic glider maneuvered during flight to strike a target about 700 km (430 mi.) away.

The U.S. needs to move quickly to increase collaboration with defense industries abroad to bring on the best technologies quickly, and a key way to do that would be to expand the National Technological and Industrial Base while also loosening arms sales restrictions, the Pentagon’s former top weapons buyer said.

Flight controllers at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore deployed the secondary mirror on the James Webb Space Telescope on Jan. 5, as the list of critical reconfigurations to prepare the observatory for its unprecedented science mission neared completion.

NASA’s upcoming Artemis I mission will feature some familiar names and activities to those alive and well in the remote workplace realm.

TRIMAN INDUSTRIES (AE Industrial Partners), NJ acquired BRIGHTON CROMWELL, NJ and CRESTWOOD TECHNOLOGY GROUP (CTG), NY to create a leading military

A Northrop Grumman announcement about a static test offers the first confirmation of the company’s role as the solid rocket motor supplier for the Lockheed Martin Precision Strike Missile.

AST SpaceMobile, a newly public company aiming to establish a space-based cellular broadband network for smartphones, has offered a peak inside its 85,000-ft.2 manufacturing headquarters in Midland, Texas.

French space agency’s invitation to use Kourou spaceport may help European microlauncher projects meet hoped-for high demand.

2Excel’s growth has been partly fueled by the transition to the commercial sector of flight testing of defense equipment.

U.S. defenses shot down four armed small drones in two days at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, with the attempted attacks occurring on the two-year anniversary of an American drone strike in the country that killed a key Iranian military leader.

Spain’s defense and interior ministries have jointly ordered 36 Airbus H135 twin-engine light helicopters as part of a stimulus package for Spanish industry.

Flight controllers overseeing the newly launched James Webb Space Telescope breezed through the deployment and positioning of the observatory’s five-layer, tennis court-sized sunshield, completing what was considered the most technically complicated part of the mission ahead of schedule.