Defense and Space

The U.S. Air Force is renewing its focus on how to fight in space to compete with China and Russia.

A Defense Department decision to acquire 144 F-15EX aircraft rests partly on an internal cost comparison with the F-35A that assumes a long-term 51.7% advantage for Boeing’s twin-engined fighter on cost per flying hour, a Joint Staff spokesperson confirms to Aerospace DAILY.

U.S. Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan says the executive branch will nominate the Space Force chief of staff in “weeks, not months.”

NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch teamed March 29 to advance a much-delayed International Space Station (ISS) power storage battery upgrade on the port side of the six-person orbiting science lab.

The Czech Republic could be next to sign up to the program, which already has the backing of Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway.

British aerospace and defense trade association ADS has vented frustration at the British Parliament’s continuing chaotic indecision over the country’s departure from the European Union.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) is concerned the U.S. Air Force launch services procurement strategy will not yield a fair and open competition.

“We are about to squander European integration,” Airbus CEO Tom Enders said March 29 in Munich. “I am concerned that Germany is isolating itself."

DARPA was the sole customer for Rocket Lab’s fifth Electron mission, which lifted off at 7:27 p.m. EDT from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.

The Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program to replace the Minuteman III ICBM is considering a proposal to use two suppliers for solid rocket motors.

A routine inspection discovered “potentially fleet-wide issues” with the drogue chute for the B-1B’s ejection seat.

Russian state holding company Rostec says Indonesia's pending order for 11 Sukhoi Su-35 fighters will go through.

Marshall Aerospace will convert the Boeing 737s to the E-7 configuration, planning to deliver the first in 2023.

India’s anti-satellite test; powerplant issue delays new U.S. carrier; Belgium seeks SkyGuardian UAVs; U.S. missile defense system scores win.

India’s March 27 anti-satellite test likely took out the 740-kg (1,630-lb.) Microsat-R satellite, according to space situational awareness experts.

The U.S. Air Force has started detailing the roles of future bases for the B-21 bomber.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on March 27 that her country has submitted a request to the Trump administration to acquire new F-16V fighters.

Saab says it will intensify the flight test effort for it Gripen E/F combat aircraft with additional prototypes and production aircraft joining the program in 2019.

NASA has agreed to conduct an assessment of the probabilities of meeting cost and launch schedule estimates for the James Webb Space Telescope by late September.

The U.S. Marine Corps wants to test a new kind of small, fixed-wing unmanned air system.

India has tested an Anti-Satellite Missile System by destroying one of its low Earth orbiting satellites.

Money woes continue to hamper Malaysian military recapitalization and sustainment plans as the government indicates it has other priorities.

Boeing’s two-seat F-15EX aircraft will be flown with an empty back seat by squadrons now flying single-seat F-15Cs, the U.S. Air Force says.

U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory seeks industry input on program to accelerate the deployment of AI in unmanned combat aircraft.

About “half” of the U.S. Army’s AH-64 fleet will be replaced by the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, U.S. Army officials confirmed to Aerospace DAILY.