Defense and Space

Verification of the LE-9 main engine of Japan’s forthcoming H3 space launcher will move into so-called battleship testing in December.

Latest FMF deal with Israel begins, Bulgaria’s fighter competition begins, Lockheed’s new Hellfire contract and Russia developing self-guided artillery.

Boeing’s efforts to develop the core stage of the SLS are in step with efforts to prepare the Orion crew module for an unpiloted multiweek test launch around the Moon by mid-2020.

Sikorsky’s industry-funded S-97 Raider has exceeded 200 kt. in flight testing as the company prepares to offer the high-speed helicopter for the U.S. Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA).

Under the FARA competitive prototype program, also dubbed FVL Light or Capability Set 1, the U.S. Army anticipates awarding four to six initial contracts in June 2019

A 2.1-lb. DJI Phantom 2 quadcopter drone tore a hole in the leading edge of a light aircraft wing in a simulated 238-mph midair collision in ground tests.

The European-built power and propulsion module for NASA’s Exploration Mission-1 is scheduled to leave the Airbus Defense and Space manufacturing facility in Bremen, Germany, on Oct. 29 for Kennedy Space Center.

Air traffic management communications provider Frequentis announced a contract from the U.S. Defense Department to supply remote-tower technology

The UK has finally confirmed that it has begun talks with Boeing over the potential purchase of the E-7 aircraft to replace the E-3 Sentry fleet.

“We’re working hard to get this done this year," a SpaceX official says. "At this time the Falcon might be ready, but we might still have some paperwork on the certification side."

The U.S. Navy is close to awarding Boeing a contract to deliver a redesigned cockpit for the Block III version of the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G aircraft.

General Atomics has performed the first flight of its second prototype MQ-9B SkyGuardian medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system.

Chinese state company Leobit plans to have all 80 satellites of its planned L-band communications constellation in orbit by about 2022.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has done it for a third time—successfully delivering a small lander spacecraft to the surface of an asteroid.

UK Flight Trials off U.S. Eastern seaboard are integrating F-35 and HMS Queen Elizabeth-class carrier.

Bell’s experience with V-22 Osprey and V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft position the company well for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Group 5 UAS competition.

Industry may have won this round of defense acquisition reform for now after the Pentagon on Oct. 1 shelved a pay-for-performance scheme.

NASA and the NOAA have convened a mishap investigation board to seek the root or proximate cause of a cooling system anomaly aboard the GOES-17 satellite.

The latest 10-year, $33 billion U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF) agreement with Israel that took effect on Oct. 1 is worrisome to some in Israeli industry.

Italy, Sweden and the U.S. have submitted proposals to meet a much-delayed Bulgarian requirement for new fighters to replace Sofia’s aging Soviet-era fleet.

South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope array will join the privately funded Breakthrough Listen initiative to scan 1 million nearby stars for signs of a technically advanced civilization beyond Earth.

Weather radar is no longer specified for an ambitious radar replacement program that U.S. government agencies would fund using proceeds from a future spectrum auction.

The U.S. Justice Department has filed a lawsuit and outlined spinoff demands before United Technologies would be allowed to acquire Rockwell Collins.

Fears of rocket attacks and use of incendiary, explosive-carrying balloons is prompting new interest in laser defense systems by the Israeli defense ministry.

The International Trade Commission plans to investigate a complaint of patent infringement against China’s DJI, the leader in the commercial drone market.