Defense and Space

Already long delayed, the NASA-led, $8.8 billion, 5- to 10-year James Webb Space Telescope mission could face additional schedule setbacks and cost issues.

Global Aviation Technologies will update 19 C-21A jets, the military designation for the Learjet 35A, for the U.S. Air Force.

Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 40 returned to service on Dec 6 after a 14-month repair and refurbishment following an explosion on the pad.

Actions by Congress and upcoming elections could change the direction of defense spending, especially if the balance between Republicans and Democrats shifts.

In this week’s roundup, Israel prepares to integrate Israeli weapons and EW systems on its F-35s, Russia flies fifth-gen fighter with a new engine, India successfully tests Akash missile and Singapore receives approval to buy F-15 equipment.

The U.S. Air Force will seek proposals for basic and applied research into four Grand Challenge areas for its future propulsion strategy.

Aerospace veterans see it coming: the transition of low Earth orbit activities to a commercially dominated landscape.

Spirit AeroSystems plans to add 1,000 jobs and invest $1 billion over the next five years at its Wichita headquarters.

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 appears to have emerged the real winner from Boeing’s rift with Canada over Bombardier’s C Series passenger jetliner.

Adding to the scores of similar projects already in the works, Erik Lindbergh—grandson of Charles Lindbergh and long-time advocate for electric flight—has formed a company to develop an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) air taxi.

Russia’s Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighter took off with a new engine for the first time, according to United Aircraft Corp.

Northrop Grumman has been performing flight demonstrations with a new foldout UAV that could someday drop from the Boeing EA-18G Growler.

Israel wants more Israeli-developed weapon and electronic warfare systems on its Lockheed Martin F-35 Adir stealth fighters.

India has successfully test-launched the newest version of its homegrown Akash supersonic surface-to-air missile.

Internal and external competition and other factors are eroding the lead that this small Middle Eastern state has held since 1985.

Ramifications from the upcoming British departure from the European Union continue to ripple across UK A&D.

Boeing’s first KC-46 Pegasus tanker slated for delivery to the U.S. Air Force made its first flight Dec. 5, and the aircraft won’t be delivered until 2018.

Orbital ATK’s eighth NASA-contracted resupply mission to the ISS initiated the ambitious departure phase of a multifaceted, month-long orbital journey on Dec. 5.

Recent predictions of a still-growing $1 trillion global space economy by 2030 may not be out of step, one longtime expert in the field says.

Triumph Group said Dec. 4 it will combine its Aerospace Structures and Precision Components groups into one business unit come Jan. 1, 2018.

The U.S. Air Force planned to resume T-6 Texan II trainer flying operations at Vance AFB, Oklahoma, on Dec. 5 following hypoxia-like events.

Northrop Grumman Mission Systems has been using an experimental airliner to test a low-band radio frequency jamming pod for the U.S. Navy’s EA-18G Growler.

DOD spending on artificial intelligence, so-called Big Data and cloud-based services totaled $7.4 billion in fiscal 2017, a combined 32.4% jump over 2012.

The ICAO sent a state letter to its member countries to protect manned-aircraft operations from drones.

Qinetiq Target Services has completed a demonstration for the Royal Canadian Navy that involved emulating the risk posed to warships by multirotor drones.