Defense and Space

Vancouver-based space startup UrtheCast is to receive C$17.6 million ($13.2 million) in Canadian government support for development of the planned OptiSAR constellation.

U.S. defense services providers look set to prosper under President Donald Trump’s new budget priorities, several financial analysts say.

The contract provides $3.3 billion to Boeing in exchange for 244 remanufactured Echo-model aircraft and another 24 new-build AH-64Es for Saudi Arabia.

The Trump administration’s fiscal 2017 supplemental budget, known in Washington as the “hard-power” skinny budget, would add billions of dollars to the U.S. Army’s aircraft and missile procurement accounts, providing new money for helicopters, UAVs, missiles and interceptors.

Lockheed Martin is eyeing new U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force opportunities for high-power laser systems after demonstrating a 60-kw-class laser for delivery to the Army in the next few months.

Low-cost UAVs that can be launched in volleys to cooperate with each other and with manned aircraft, then be retrieved in midair and reused, have moved a step closer to becoming reality.

A five-year development effort led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory could soon produce one of the coldest places in the known universe, a man-made high-tech lab aboard the U.S. segment of the International Space Station.

Analysts question whether the U.S. should continue to honor the prohibition of ground-launched mid-range missiles in light of Russia’s violation.

Building on the momentum of robust turboprop sales, Pilatus is looking to establishing its name in business jets.

The Air Force is enticing engine manufacturers with its plan to upgrade or replace more than 608 Pratt & Whitney TF33s that have powered the nuclear-armed B-52H since 1961.

Republicans want more dollars for the military. Democrats are unlikely to lift budget caps for defense.

The proposed investment in the Air Force’s sixth-generation fighter signals the administration’s seriousness about moving quickly to modernize the service’s tactical fighter fleet beyond the stealthy F-35.

Boeing is the big winner in President Trump’s supplemental budget request for fiscal 2017, with the White House requesting more than $3 billion for 24 additional U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets and six more P-8 maritime patrol aircraft.

The Trump administration's $19.1 billion fiscal 2018 budget plan for NASA would prioritize deep-space missions but scrap the previous administration’s plan to capture an asteroid.

The budget proposal lifts sequestration caps, invests in critical munitions to fight violent extremists, increases the number of U.S. Navy ships and funds additional U.S. Air Force F-35s.

The South Korean navy has dropped a plan to buy and refurbish 16 Lockheed Martin S-3 Vikings, shifting its focus to the possibility of an order for new aircraft.

The Martian surface is within reach of human explorers by the early to mid-2030s, and Martian orbit by 2026-28, provided funding is made available and some key technology decisions are reached soon, a panel says.

OneWeb Satellites on March 16 kicked off construction of its proposed $85 million, high-volume satellite manufacturing factory in Exploration Park, Florida, near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Textron Aviation has officially decided that it cannot compete for the U.S. Air Force’s $16 billion next-generation training aircraft program with the company’s Scorpion.

Missile manufacturer MBDA had another strong year of orders in 2016 and plans more recruitments this year.

Britain and Japan will look at the possibility of jointly developing a fighter, probably for entry into service in the 2030s.

Russian Helicopters has begun work on the development of a light helicopter in the 1.6-metric ton (3,500 lb.) class, the company has revealed.

NASA, Orbital ATK and United Launch Alliance have slipped the launch of Orbital’s seventh NASA-contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station by three days to March 24, with the possibility of a one-day advance.

Singapore has declared its Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Heron unmanned aircraft fully operational, five years after the system’s delivery.

Russia won’t buy T-50 fighters until 2018, India tests BrahMos that can fly 450 km, Canada firms up plans to buy F/A-18 Super Hornets and Malaysia finally receives its fourth A400M.