Defense and Space

Airbus has partnered with German company AMSilk to develop a composite material based on a synthetic spider-silk fiber.

India has test-fired the indigenously developed Prahaar surface-to-surface short-range tactical ballistic missile.

While analysts like the idea of adding to the force to fight high-end threats, budget realities are likely to get in the way.

The additional funding allows ATEC and GE to keep a small number of engineers working over the next six months on minor improvements to their competing engine designs.

Release of the hexagonal mobile explorers from the bottom of the mothership came at 12:06 a.m. EDT, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The U.S. faces an uphill battle for hypersonic supremacy, warns Michael Griffin, the Pentagon’s new undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.

The U.S. Navy rapidly delivered and approved the use of additive manufactured dorsal assembly ribs to keep T-6B Texan II training aircraft in the air.

The French air force is gearing up for the entry into service of the single-turboprop Pilatus PC-21, which will become its mainstay in pilot and weapon system officer (WSO) training.

The service “is considering a number of options to keep the MRTT relevant, safe and effective in the modern battle space, including advanced technologies such as automatic boom refueling and communication-node capabilities,” a spokesperson said.

The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) has ordered four more H225M Caracal utility helicopters, taking acquisitions of the type beyond a target set when the program began in 2012.

Russia’s TsAGI aerohydrodynamic research institute is studying superconducting motors as a way of improving the performance of electric and hybrid-electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Can Lockheed Martin’s global production system meet ambitious delivery, pricing targets?

Through two phases of its Blueprint for Affordability program, Lockheed Martin has saved $5 billion over the program life cycle with a $250 million investment.

Driven by the F-35 and hypersonic programs, the defense contractor’s largest division sees 50% growth from 2012 to 2018.

The upcoming T-38 replacement decision, future of the Joint Star replacement program, and the F-35’s massive production ramp-up are all big headlines rumbling under the surface. Listen in as Aviation Week editors discuss.

Israel denies Russian claims and blames Syrian forces for indiscriminate anti-aircraft fire.

MBDA has begun flight-testing an armed eVTOL aircraft concept.

The U.S. government has blacklisted the head of China’s military arms procurement organization and the agency itself for buying Russian Su-35 fighters and air defense systems.

The Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm was the last operator of the Sea King, flying the Mk. 7 version. Two of the helicopters made a farewell flight from their home base at RNAS Culdrose Cornwall on Sept. 19.

The air forces of Germany and the UK have signed agreements which will see their Eurofighter communities working more closely.

NASA’s New Horizons team is planning the most distant planetary object flyby ever on Jan. 1, 2019.

“You have to be able to go to space more frequently with less lead time,” Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos says.

Deployment of the two Minerva landers was scheduled for Sept. 21 between midnight and 12:30 a.m. EDT.

The more the U.S. Navy adopts multi-domain operations for unmanned platforms from a carrier, the more the service is going to need greater connectivity across the force, says Sean Stackley, L3 Technologies corporate senior vice president.

Leonardo and South Africa’s Paramount Group are to study a potential armed version of Leonardo’s M345 jet trainer for the African market.