Defense and Space

A SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully placed the Telestar 18 Vantage/APSTAR 5C comm sat in a geostationary transfer orbit Sept. 10 after launch from Cape Canaveral.

Where the Pentagon is focusing cutting-edge RandD and what Boeing is telling investors about its airplane production crunch are the focus of this week’s discussion.

The U.S. Marine Corps will spend $1 billion on counter-unmanned aircraft system (UAS) technology over five years beginning in fiscal 2020.

The U.S. Marine Corps is quietly debating whether to own and operate its own MQ-9 Reaper fleet to build a cadre of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operators.

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) ground units are acquiring more unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), including quad-rotor drones.

DARPA has returned to the stratospheric domain with a project aimed at demonstrating that a lighter-than-air balloon can drift between wind layers to navigate at altitudes up to 90,000 ft. for days or weeks at a time.

The DOD will begin having “consultations” with congressional leadership on establishing a unified space command, U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson says.

Jordan will deliver two Bell AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters to the Philippines in July 2019.

GKN Aerospace will use additive manufacturing to create the turbine for Europe’s Prometheus reusable rocket engine demonstrator.

Avic unit Guizhou Aviation has completed the first FTC-2000G, an armed export version of the JL-9 trainer.

Defense plans outlines modernization through to the 2030s.

With completion of development flight-testing, the Lockheed Martin-led team provides a deep dive into the engineering effort behind developing the F-35.

The F-35B exists because of its commonality with the F-35A and F-35C, but all three variants are better aircraft because of the STOVL version challenges.

India’s proposed purchase of S-400 missile systems from Russia is seen as unlikely to attract punitive measures from the U.S. as the deal enters its final stages.

The U.S. Navy awarded Northrop Grumman a $164 million contract modification for an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft for Japan.

Boeing will integrate the Lockheed Martin Legion Pod on U.S. Air Force F-15C fighters under a $208.3 million contract award from the service on Sept. 5.

A Bell-led team has been selected to conduct a flight demonstration as part of NASA studies on integrating unmanned air systems into nonsegregated airspace.

Turkish Aerospace has performed the first flight of its T625 twin-engine medium helicopter.

PGZ could be involved in the support, sustainment and upgrade activity for the Apache if it is selected for Poland’s Kruk attack helicopter program.

Lockheed and Tata potentially to make F-16 wings in India; Russia to reengine Su-30SMs; India, Israel to make high-altitude UAV; Sierra Nevada bags A-29 pact.

Pentagon leaders want 3-5% budget growth after inflation. The next White House budget probably won’t give them that.

Nuclear mission is likely to be a critical element in Brussels’ future fighter thinking.

So-called boost-glide systems most likely are the intended target of Darpa's Glide Breaker program, which seeks to demonstrate defenses against hypersonic weapons such as those being developed by China and Russia.

The Pentagon is standing up a new office to help it figure out all the changes Congress has made to defense acquisition reforms, an assistant secretary of defense for acquisition enablers (ASD), according to a leading Pentagon acquisition official.

The DOD's acquisition chief says the U.S. must be transparent with the U.S. military services, international partners and foreign military sales customers on the F-35's steep sustainment cost.