Defense and Space

By Maxim Pyadushkin
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported on Dec. 21 that the Bureau of Industry and Security would add nearly 40 Russian companies to a new “Military End User” list limiting their access to U.S. technologies.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Michael Bruno
Aerospace supplier Moog has acquired avionics provider Genesys Aerosystems of Mineral Wells, Texas, from McNally Capital and Genesys managers for about $77.7 million, the companies announced late Dec. 21.
Supply Chain

By Michael Bruno
Axiom Space, the space station startup, on Dec. 22 announced plans to create a 14-acre headquarters campus at Houston Spaceport to train private astronauts and begin production of its Axiom Station.
Commercial Space

By Lee Hudson
Lawmakers are becoming more stringent with how the Pentagon can spend future funding, included on the services’ unfunded requirements list, according to a joint explanatory statement accompanying the fiscal 2021 defense appropriations compromise bill.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Lee Hudson
Congress is allowing the U.S. Air Force to say farewell to 17 B-1Bs and the RQ-4 Block 20 fleet, but is blocking the retirement of KC-135s, KC-10s and A-10s in the latest fiscal 2021 defense appropriations compromise bill.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
The latest challenge from Raytheon again risks delaying the schedule for fielding the first tranche of the SDA’s Tracking Layer of missile-warning satellites in low Earth orbit, but agency officials say the program remains on track.
Space

BELGIAN AIR FORCE took delivery of its first (106) of seven A400Ms from Airbus; second is planned for early 2021.
Defense and Space

By Lee Hudson
Despite the U.S. Air Force demonstrating earlier this month how a piece of the Advanced Battle Management System might work, the fiscal 2021 defense appropriations compromise bill would drastically reduce the program’s funding.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Mark Carreau
The Space Launch System’s Exploration Upper Stage that is to support NASA’s Artemis initiative goal of establishing a permanent human presence at the Moon has cleared the Critical Design Review phase of its development.
Space

By Maxim Pyadushkin
The Russian military has placed its first order for 10 re-engined Ilyushin Il-78M-90A tanker aircraft.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
In an ignominious end for the fleet, the five Sentinels “are not for reuse” the defense ministry stated, as it called for expressions of interest in the disposal of the radar reconnaissance platform.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Bill Carey
Competitors wasted little time taking advantage of the U.S. Commerce Department announcement that it had added Chinese drone manufacturer DJI to its export blacklist.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Michael Bruno
Lockheed Martin’s proposed $4.4 billion cash takeover of aerospace and defense propulsion stalwart Aerojet Rocketdyne–already a key supplier–fits well within Lockheed and will secure the Pentagon’s leading contractor as a hypersonics, rocket and military space leader for decades to come.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Jen DiMascio
Easy Aerial and the U.S. Air Force’s 60th Security Forces Sqdn. started the first automated drone-based perimeter security and monitoring system for a U.S. Air Force installation, Travis AFB in California, on Dec. 11.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
Passage of the $696 billion spending bill for fiscal 2021 completes the final appropriations cycle of the Trump administration with a slight uptick in funding for the DOD alone, which received $693.3 billion in fiscal 2020.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
With both the platforms and weapons for the future nuclear enterprise set, the U.S. Navy and Air Force are now plotting the future of the airborne command and control systems.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Mark Carreau
NASA and prime contractor Boeing are probing the premature shutdown of a simulated countdown sequence during the Dec. 20 Wet Dress Rehearsal for the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket.
Space

BOEING has 10-year PBL contract from Republic of Singapore Air Force to support its F-15SGs.
Defense and Space

EMBRAER delivered its fourth C-390 Millennium to BRAZILIAN AIR FORCE, which has ordered 28.
Defense and Space

LOCKHEED MARTIN agreed to acquire AEROJET ROCKETDYNE, CA (rocket engine manufacturer) in deal valued at $4.4b.
Aerospace

By Mark Carreau
Nanoracks’ commercial airlock, which was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this month aboard the first launch of SpaceX’s upgraded cargo version of the Dragon capsule, has been successfully removed from the freighter’s unpressurized trunk and berthed to the port side of the orbital outpost’s U.S. segment Tranquility module.
Space

By Steve Trimble
The agreement on the all-cash transaction includes a $5 per share, pre-closing special dividends to Aerojet’s shareholders, reducing the post-dividend value of the deal to $4.6 billion.
Supply Chain

By Guy Norris
The missile forms a critical element of the Pentagon’s fast-track plan to develop a range of high-speed stand-off strike and cruise weapons to counter new Chinese and Russian hypersonic capabilities.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Irene Klotz
SpaceX’s second mission for the NRO lifted off at 9 a.m. EST Dec. 19 from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A.
Space

By Maxim Pyadushkin, Irene Klotz
The launch of 36 OneWeb satellites follows the company's emergence from bankruptcy.
Commercial Space