Defense and Space

By Steve Trimble
Skyborg is the tip of the iceberg in a multiservice push to bring autonomous control systems from laboratories to the battlefield.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
A year after the Abraham Accords, the Dubai Airshow offers the next venue to measure the strength of a new diplomatic partnership.
Dubai Airshow

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aerospace

By Brian Everstine
U.S. Special Operations Command recently released a request for proposals for Armed Overwatch, with a production award expected in spring 2022.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
Additional centralized authority over the Pentagon’s broad Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept could slow development and make the process more risk averse, the Pentagon’s lead for the effort said in response to a new think-tank report that argued a central authority is needed.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Mark Carreau
Equipped with emerging propulsion and navigation technologies, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test is intended to demonstrate for the first time the potential effectiveness of a kinetic impact strategy in deflecting an asteroid on a destructive collision course with Earth.
Space

By Steve Trimble
The U.S. Army will reactive the 56th Artillery Command in Europe on Nov. 8 for the first time in 30 years as the military prepares to deploy new long-range missiles that become operational in 2023.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
The Biden administration on Nov. 4 notified Congress of a proposed sale of up to 280 Raytheon AIM-120C7/C8 Amraams to Saudi Arabia.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Tony Osborne
Turkish Aerospace has cut metal on the first parts for the prototype TF-X indigenous fighter.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Michael Bruno
Three-year-old New York startup Innovative Rocket Technologies on Nov. 4 said it has signed an agreement with two-year-old Turion Space of Irvine, California, to launch 20 of the latter’s proposed Droid orbital-debris-removing satellites to low Earth orbit via iRocket’s planned Shockwave launcher.
Commercial Space

By Chen Chuanren
A second prototype of the Boeing Airpower Teaming System (ATS) has commenced flight tests at Australia’s Woomera Range Complex.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Michael Bruno
The acquisition broadens CACI’s capabilities as a U.S.-based FSO laser communications provider supporting space, airborne and terrestrial missions to U.S. government and commercial customers.
Space

By Tony Osborne
Post-Brexit French/UK political relations may be at a low, but cross-Channel missile technology research is continuing apace.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Irene Klotz
Bezos’ space company takes a community approach to build and operate a new space station.
Commercial Space

By Jen DiMascio
Space Force seeks commercial services; piecing together a wrecked A-10; Area-I’s new UAS approach; and India tests anti-airfield weapon.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Brian Everstine
A Pentagon investigation into the Aug. 29 drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 Afghan civilians calls for changes to how future airstrikes are handled but says those involved in conducting the strike did not violate any laws of war and simply made a mistake.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Thierry Dubois
Airbus and France’s Dassault Aviation are still ironing out details of the work sharing agreement they reached last spring for the trinational Future Combat Air System program, according to Airbus Defense and Space CEO Michael Schoellhorn.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office on Nov. 3 released a request for proposals to industry for the Electro-Optical Commercial Layer, a step for improved commercial imagery with a specific focus on intelligence and military needs.
Space

The U.S. military needs to develop more offensive capabilities in space, coupled with beefing up defenses for critical satellites, to maintain superiority in that domain as China rapidly closes the gap, the nation’s top uniformed military official warned.
Space

By Graham Warwick
UK startup Isotropic Systems has demonstrated the first simultaneous connections with communications satellites in different orbits, its solid-state terminal linking to SES spacecraft in both geostationary and medium Earth orbits at the same time.
Commercial Space

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Navy needs to increase the number of fighters it buys to maintain its current inventory size, as F-35s are coming online too slowly while F/A-18E/F production sunsets and the service has not backed up its talk on the prioritization of unmanned aerial vehicles, a new think tank report argues.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Tony Osborne
Korean Aerospace Industries is planning to offer its FA-50 Golden Eagle jet trainer for an upcoming tender in Slovakia, South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration says.
Light Attack and Advanced Training

By Steve Trimble
China’s nuclear stockpile will grow to 1,000 warheads by 2030, a near-quintupling of the current inventory amidst an intense push to expand a currently limited strategic arsenal within a decade, the Defense Department says in a new report to Congress.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Tony Osborne
Active sales campaigns for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are underway in the Czech Republic, Greece and Spain, officials say.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Jen DiMascio
The Indian Air Force and Defense Research and Development Organization flight tested two configurations of the Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon on Oct. 28 and Nov. 3.
Missile Defense & Weapons