Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Airbus Helicopters and French naval ship builder DCNS are to partner on the development of an unmanned helicopter to meet an upcoming French navy requirement.
Defense and Space

By Thierry Dubois
Contact with the ExoMars' mission's Schiaparelli lander was lost about 50 sec. before its planned Oct. 19 touchdown.
Defense and Space

By Molly McMillin
Textron’s Scorpion jet has completed its first weapons exercise, demonstrating the aircraft’s close air support mission capability through the employment of three weapon systems.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s Jupiter-orbiting Juno spacecraft has slipped into a computer safe mode, suspending all data gathering.
Defense and Space

By Jen DiMascio
The U.S. Air Force is taking control of a Darpa telescope that can track thousands of tiny objects sailing through space about 22,370 mi. above Earth.
Defense and Space

By Marhalim Abas
Russian Helicopters has begun flight trials of its improved Mi-28NM helicopter.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Boeing is planning to demonstrate how autonomous technologies and machine learning could be used for anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare missions.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Boeing’s Insitu subsidiary is offering the ViDAR sensor-carrying derivative of the ScanEagle unmanned air system to meet a U.S. Coast Guard requirement for a shipborne UAV to operate off its National Security Cutters.
Defense and Space

By Jen DiMascio
In this week’s roundup: India buys Russian SAMs; Taiwan begins production of a Patriot-like air defense system; U.S. Air Force prepares to send a powerful telescope to Australia; and Malaysia gets an up-close look at Typhoon fighters.
Defense and Space

The U.S. Air Force plans to begin re-winging 235 Boeing F-15 Eagle air superiority fighters starting with initial production deliveries in fiscal 2022.
Defense and Space

By Thierry Dubois
The European Space Agency was still waiting to hear from the ExoMars mission’s Schiaparelli lander as of 9 p.m. local time Oct. 19, while the trace gas orbiter seemed to have succeeded in entering Mars’ orbit.
Defense and Space

Just one month out from a request for proposals, the U.S. Air Force is keeping a close hold on its draft key performance parameters for the planned successor to its outdated UH-1N Huey helicopter fleet.
Defense and Space

Repairs are well underway on the 15 U.S. and Norwegian F-35As that were grounded in September due to crumbling insulation inside the fuel tanks, and officials anticipate some of the jets could be fixed before the end of the month.
Defense and Space

By Marhalim Abas
A Royal Air Force deployment of Eurofighter Typhoons is taking personnel from three British squadrons to exercises stretching from Southeast Asia to Japan and South Korea in the next three months.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
A three-man U.S. and Russian crew is expected to reach the International Space Station (ISS) early Oct. 21.
Defense and Space

By Bradley Perrett
China’s Shenzhou 11 manned space mission has achieved a key objective, demonstrating new docking technology in mating with the Tiangong 2 orbital laboratory.
Defense and Space

NASA’s faltering commercial-spaceflight endeavor enjoys a spectacular return to flight of the Orbital ATK Antares launcher laden with supplies for the International Space Station (ISS).

The funds announced Oct. 17 should help tide over Lockheed Martin and its suppliers as they await an anticipated $16 billion deal for Lot 9 and 10 aircraft.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
The Polish defense ministry is restarting a tender for multi-role helicopters just days after canceling a $3.5 billion deal with Airbus for 50 H225M Caracal aircraft.
Defense and Space

By Jay Menon
In a bid to strengthen strategic partnerships with its main allies, Russia has agreed to supply the S-400 Triumph, its most advanced anti-aircraft defense system, to India, with deliveries starting in 2020.
Defense and Space

By Guy Norris
The FAA will hold an industry day in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 25 to discuss details of its fast-developing plan to take over elements of international space traffic control management duties from the U.S. military.
Defense and Space

By Thierry Dubois
Thales’ new Talios laser targeting pod started flight tests on a Rafale combat aircraft on July 27, the company has revealed, and development is continuing on schedule toward a 2018 service entry on the type.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Autonomous aerial, surface and underwater vehicles gathered in Scotland for a technological showcase.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Aurora Flight Sciences is flying a Cessna Caravan fitted with a robotic copilot as part of a Darpa program to demonstrate automation that could reduce the crew required to fly existing aircraft.
Connected Aerospace

Lockheed believes the new battlefield necessitates a lower-signature—if not fully stealth—refueling aircraft that moves away from the commercial-derivative tankers of years past.
Defense and Space