Defense and Space

Moon Express and NanoRacks have formed an alliance to nurture deep space science and private enterprise.

HOUSTON—Four British academic and industrial research institutions have been selected by the UK Space Agency to develop advanced microgravity research experiments for flight aboard the International Space Station (ISS) under a £230,000 ($304,000) U.S.

“The next few months may be rather stressful for most deal-makers in the A&D sector,” say some who should know.

A new regulation addresses cybersecurity at defense primes and their suppliers, or better yet, the lack thereof, which has led to problems in the past.

Raytheon’s Space Factory is winding down production of the EKV as engineers begin developing the next kill vehicle.

The Hellenic Defense Ministry is expected to sign a letter of agreement by the end of this month to modernize its F-16 fleet—a deal that could be worth more than $1.5 billion, according to Greek aerospace officials.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has transitioned exclusively to production of the extended-range MQ-1C Gray Eagle for the U.S. Army after completing production of the 165th and final baseline aircraft.

Raytheon Missile Systems has presented its offering for the U.S. Army’s Long-Range Precision Fires program, a precision-guided missile aptly named DeepStrike.

NASA spacewalking astronauts Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei returned to the outside of the International Space Station Oct. 10 to perform several maintenance tasks.

The Pentagon has selected Lockheed Martin to upgrade the U.S. Army’s long-range artillery rocket to strike moving targets both on land and at sea under an effort run by the department’s secretive innovation office, Aviation Week has learned.

Honeywell International will hold on to its traditional aerospace and defense businesses and may try to grow them through merger and acquisition activity, Honeywell President and CEO Darius Adamczyk said.

Afghanistan will become the first operator of Orbital ATK’s upgraded AC-208II, a weaponized Cessna Caravan, through a $69 million contract awarded by the U.S. Air Force last month.

At least one company believes directed energy could be the future of mobile air defense against incoming rockets, artillery shells, mortar rounds and even small drones.

Indonesia rolled out two new types of helicopters and its latest military hardware in a live-fire display at a civilian port to celebrate the anniversary of its armed forces on Oct. 5.

BAE Systems is planning to cut 1,900 jobs across the company as it undertakes a radical overhaul of its organizational structure.

Malaysia is sending an Airbus A400M Atlas airlifter to South Korea to take part in an air show in Seoul from Oct. 17-22.

With enough additional funding, Raytheon says it could give the Pentagon’s SM-3 interceptor the ability to defeat longer-range ballistic missiles.

The U.S. Army’s research arm is hard at work on its first shore-based missile intended to destroy both maritime and land targets and increase the range and lethality of its defenses.

Raytheon and Kongsberg will highlight the capabilities of the Naval Strike Missile for coastal defense during the Rim of the Pacific exercise in 2018.

Canada confirms it has formally expressed interest in buying F-18A/B Hornets to be retired by Australia.

The acting secretary of the U.S. Army has included next-generation rotorcraft platforms on his list of service modernization priorities.

The Russian Air Force is preparing to seriously expand its airborne early warning capabilities, with its new A-100 AEW aircraft set to make its first flight by year’s end.

DARPA has awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne a contract to demonstrate a turbine-based combined cycle engine that could power a reusable high-speed aircraft from takeoff to beyond Mach 5.

World View Enterprises Inc. has successfully demonstrated high-altitude Earth observation and communications capabilities with its Stratollite balloon and Stratocraft payload components.

Ancient hydrothermal environments on Earth have emerged as potential settings from which terrestrial life arose.