Defense and Space

Myanmar has put into service six Yakovlev Yak-130 twin-engine trainer and light attack aircraft ordered from Russia in 2015.

Facing three major refueling deficiencies, Boeing will not begin deliveries to the Air Force until 2018. Airbus A330 MRTT winning non-U.S. competitions.

Boeing has taken the wrapping off its proposal for the U.S. Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray program.

The Senate Banking Committee on Dec. 19 narrowly rejected the Trump administration’s nominee to head the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

The U.S. Army is trying to figure out why Sierra Nevada Corp. was the only prime contractor to bid for its Fixed Wing Utility Aircraft (FUA) program.

Airbus A330 MRTT tankers to be delivered to Singapore next year have been improved for operation by smaller crews and landing in worse visibility conditions.

Development of a version of the MBDA Meteor air-to-air missile with an advanced Japanese seeker is increasingly likely.

Eight Boeing AH-64Es being delivered to the Indonesian Army are likely to be partly maintained by state-owned Indonesian Aerospace.

The FAA has declared no-drone zones over seven Department of Energy (DOE) facilities.

India has begun integrating the air-launched version of its BrahMos supersonic cruise missile on its fleet of Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighters.

Lockheed’s stealth fighter will continue to draw focus in 2018 and beyond as several nations look to modernize.

British parliamentarians say a lack of transparency over costs and a poor response to media reports could undermine confidence in the UK’s purchase of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

President Donald Trump’s National Security Strategy prioritizes sustaining the U.S. nuclear arsenal and building up capability in missile defense, space and cyberspace.

Thales is fleshing out its expansion into so-called digital offerings with a Dec. 17 announcement that it will buy digital security company Gemalto.

Stratolaunch Systems successfully conducted the first taxi tests of the company’s enormous six-engine, air-launch rocket carrier aircraft on Dec 17.

A committee of British MPs is urging the UK’s defense ministry to undertake a comprehensive review of its equipment spending.

ArianeGroup has started building the first Ariane 6 launcher, scheduled to lift off in July 2020.

A high-temperature airflow test site designed to evaluate a key technology in the Reaction Engines’ hypersonic air-breathing combined cycle Sabre rocket engine is under assembly.

The Swedish government has signed a $47.5 million contract with Saab to ensure that more of the country’s new fleet of Gripen E fighters are new-build aircraft.

Canada is providing nearly $42 million to space companies, almost all of which will go to MDA, for the Mobile Servicing System on the space station.

Findings of a NASA team studying hypoxia in the Navy’s F/A-18s suggest the complex man-machine interface is to blame.

The International Space Station received new opportunities to display its versatility as an orbiting testbed early Dec. 17, with the berthing of SpaceX's 13th NASA-contracted Dragon resupply vessel and 4,800 lb. of crew supplies, science experiments and technology demonstrations.

The Pentagon will start ramping up its investments in safer and more reliable cluster munitions that don’t leave unexploded ordnance lying around the battlefield.

SpaceX wrapped up its 2017 East Coast launch manifest on Dec. 15 with a cargo run to the International Space Station for NASA.

Spacesuit researchers are working on a rescue system that would use automated navigation to help a spacewalking astronaut return to safety in an emergency.