Defense and Space

The head of the House Armed Services Committee is advocating that SpaceX receive monetary assistance if the company is selected for the second phase of a next-generation rocket competition to deliver National Security Space payloads.

India’s space agency has tested its indigenously developed cryogenic rocket engine in anticipation of the country’s first human spaceflight mission, dubbed Gaganyaan.

The mission partners of Mars Insight’s stalled subsurface heat probe are preparing a new round of troubleshooting later this month.

Qatar has taken delivery of the first five of 36 Dassault Rafales that the small Arabian Gulf state has on order.

Eric Trappier speaks with Aviation Week about Franco-German cooperation for a future combat air system and ambitions for a spaceplane.

GE Aviation beat a competitor for a prized U.S. Army rotorcraft engine contract despite being assessed with an overall higher technical risk, according to a scorecard of the assessment obtained by Aerospace DAILY.

Both Ford-class and Nimitz-class aircraft carriers can operate with Lockheed Martin F-35Cs, but modifications are required first.

“None of the steps we are taking are irreversible,” said Ellen Lord, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. “We look forward to restoring normal program activity.”

The commercialization plan includes upcoming NASA solicitations for a commercial module to be attached to the ISS and a free-flying, commercial platform that could occasionally berth at the station.

Key Democrats on a U.S. House oversight panel are pressing the Pentagon’s Inspector General to look for more "excess profit" reaped by TransDigm.

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, selected L3’s proposal from six offers for the C-130H Avionics Modernization Program Increment 2 (AMP 2) program.

The first step in extricating Turkey from the F-35 program could start on June 12 and continue through the end of July, the U.S. Defense Department announced on June 7.

A U.S. Marine Corps Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion landed safely at Imperial County Airport in California after experiencing an inflight fire.

French aerospace and defense provider Thales on June 6 confirmed it has purchased Psibernetix, a small Cincinnati-area developer of AI for cockpits.

Ducommun, a small aerospace and defense supplier that has been working through a financial turnaround, booted its CFO on June 5, according to a regulatory filing.

The U.S. aerospace and defense sector was responsible for more than 2.56 million jobs in 2018, a 5.5% gain over 2017, the Aerospace Industries Association says.

Guillaume Faury became CEO of Airbus in April 2019 after about one year heading Airbus Commercial.

Sikorsky has started flying a UH-60A with a retrofittable fly-by-wire system and autonomous control features to demo a potential upgrade for the U.S. Army’s existing Black Hawk fleet.

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) on June 6 urged policymakers, the agency and its commercial partners not to skimp on funding and safety.

House Democrats intend to block President Trump from making opulent additions to the Air Force One replacement, but the move is receiving opposition from the GOP.

Rafael has unveiled a new version of its best-selling Litening-5 targeting pod that adds a synthetic aperture radar (SAR).

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory has developed a safer and more user-friendly topcoat that was applied onto the exterior of some USN and USMC aircraft.

The Senate has confirmed Lt. Gen. David Berger to receive his fourth star and lead the U.S. Marine Corps as its 38th commandant.

China conducted its first space launch from the sea on June 5, using a Long March 11 rocket that lifted off from a platform in the Yellow Sea.

The new Rapid Space Launch Initiative challenges space launch providers to propose concepts for demonstrating an on-orbit capability for a satellite weighing up to 220 kg (485 lb.) within 24 hr. of receiving a call from the Air Force.