Defense and Space

The defense budget is likely to reach 2.4% of GDP within two years. Slow naval programs will consume much of the money.

A decade of research and simulation is transitioning into a flight test series of autonomous aircraft projects in 2021.

Despite the pandemic, the industry continued to make progress in sustainability, space, aviation safety and more.

Beyond COVID-19, the new leadership team at the Pentagon will inherit a huge modernization agenda.

Recent market intelligence items for aerospace & defense professionals.

Redwire, the private equity-backed space rollup, said Dec. 15 it bought LoadPath, a developer of payload adapters, deployable structures and thermal products for the space industry.

The U.S. Air Force says it has delivered the last of 84 F-15SA Advanced Eagles to the Royal Saudi Air Force.

The U.S. Space Force may establish its acquisition and sustainment arm, Space Systems Command, earlier than planned, the chief of space operations says.

The U.S. military on Dec. 9 was able to demonstrate how a piece of its future military Internet of Things, the Advanced Battle Management System, might work.

BOEING has $109m FMS contract from US Navy to provide P-8A Poseidon simulator/classroom training for the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF).

The survivability of NASA’s exploration agenda depends substantially on bipartisan congressional support, according to Jim Bridenstine, the agency’s soon-to-depart administrator.

Japan has chosen Lockheed Martin as the technology support partner for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in developing the F-X fighter, Japanese media said.

German air rescue service ADAC Luftrettung has reserved two VoloCity electric air taxis from Volocopter to prepare for operational emergency medical service tests of the piloted multicopters in 2023.

LUNA INNOVATIONS, VA has $6.2m Lockheed Martin contract to supply fiber optic-based measurement products to support F-35 Lightning II fleet.

The European Space Agency has awarded ArianeGroup a €33 million ($40 million) contract for the “initial development phase” of the Themis demonstrator for a reusable launcher’s first stage.

Iridium has officially launched its own Global Maritime Distress and Safety System service, providing a single terminal for emergency data and voice communications that company leaders said would be competitively priced.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Hayabusa 2 mission scientists have confirmed the presence of a small, dark-grained material and vapor within the sample container that returned to Earth from the primitive asteroid Ryugu.

Ask the Editors: China and Russia are not likely to follow in U.S. footsteps and establish separate space force branches within their militaries.

As the U.S. Air Force prepares for a mysterious and “historic” demonstration on Dec. 15 involving the Lockheed Martin U-2S, the company’s Skunk Works division has revealed details of a “complementary” technology experiment held in secret a month ago with the same aircraft.

All four RQ-4s have been delivered and all 40 F-35As will be in 2021. So the 2021 acquisition budget is not rising much.

Although the ministry has requested a 3.3% rise, something closer to the 1.5% average of the past eight years is more likely to happen.

If the relationship between China’s defense spending and GDP holds, growth in allocations will trend downward in the coming decade.

Gen. John Raymond, the chief of space operations, looks back at the first year of operations for the U.S. Space Force and ahead at what is to come for

The lack of an appropriations bill has caused the U.S. Space Force to be dependent on the U.S. Air Force for funding, the chief of space operations says.

A year and a half after Turkey moved forward with the acceptance of Russian surface-to-air missiles, the U.S. is finally imposing sanctions on the NATO ally with whom relations are increasingly strained.