Defense and Space

Britain has enacted a Space Industry Bill, which will allow commercial space launch activities from the UK for the first time.

The U.S. Air Force has divvied up five space launch contracts between SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.

BAE Systems is developing software to enable teams of manned and unmanned aircraft to share a common mission picture and exchange vital information despite jamming.

Russia confirms ICBM silo ejection test; the new, new Indian-fighter contest; Qatar signs NH90 deal; and the Philippines new UAV.

The U.S. Air Force is skipping a significant threat awareness and survivability upgrade for the Boeing F-15C in favor of “more critical needs" for the fleet.

As delivery of Boeing’s first KC-46A tanker to the U.S. Air Force slips further, the service will likely delay retiring the first KC-10s.

Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab has performed the first flight of its GlobalEye multi-sensor surveillance aircraft.

The USAF's T-6 trainers are starting to fly again after a series of hypoxia-like cockpit events caused the service to temporarily ground the fleet.

The Russian defense ministry says it has received the first Ilyushin Il-76MD-M, a modernized variant of the in-service Il-76MD transport aircraft.

The competition to replace the Boeing B-52 bomber’s outdated Pratt & Whitney TF33-103 engine could get underway in early 2019, the U.S. Air Force says.

Favorable foreign exchange rates are helping push down the price of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for Denmark, the Danish government has said.

Japan has begun a program to choose a radar type for its two planned Aegis Ashore batteries, with U.S. government advice featuring prominently in the process.

Qatar has signed a long-awaited order for naval and troop transport versions of the European NH90 twin-engine fly-by-wire helicopter.

Rocket Lab’s first commercial flight of its Electron launcher will include two spacecraft for Spire, a company that operates a constellation of cubesats.

Ceres, the dwarf planet that has been the focus of NASA’s Dawn mission, is apparently still evolving as a water-bearing planetary body.

The Russian military has confirmed that the launch of the new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile was a silo ejection test.

Smoothly transitioning NASA’s direct financial support of the International Space Station (ISS) to the private sector by 2025 appears challenged by potential obstacles.

Airbus has produced the first two test assets of OneWeb’s constellation of 900 low Earth orbit communications satellites.

The U.S. Navy is looking for a new digital system to monitor pressure and oxygen levels in the cockpit of its Boeing F/A-18s.

Early leaders in the rapidly evolving electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) market are emerging.

A shakeout is coming in the aerostructures industry over the next 18 months, according to one major provider’s CEO.

A shakeout is coming in the aerostructures industry over the next 18 months, according to one major provider’s CEO.

South Korean moves to establish an army airborne division are raising the possibility of additional orders for such helicopters as Boeing AH-64 Apaches, CH-47 Chinooks and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) Surions.

Kratos has been cleared by the U.S. State Department to begin marketing its Unmanned Tactical Aerial Platform-22 Mako to “U.S. ally and partner nations.”

Chinese space industry group Casc is upgrading its Long March 6 space launcher, adding provision for orbital telemetry and third-stage engine restarts, industry officials say.