Defense and Space

European launch consortium Arianespace successfully lifted two Galileo satellites atop a Soyuz rocket May 24 from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, marking another milestone in Europe’s effort to create an autonomous positioning, navigation and timing constellation.

The search may have begun for its replacement, but Textron Systems’ RQ-7 Shadow is set to be the U.S. Army’s primary tactical unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for another 20 years.

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (Plaaf) is catching up quickly with Western forces, the Pentagon says in its latest annual report on the Chinese military.

With the U.S. Navy awarding Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) a $152 million contract for advance planning for the construction of the aircraft carrier CVN 80 Enterprise, the company is gearing up to design the ship in a whole new way.

Optimized for U.S. Marine Corps aviation, the amphibious assault ship LHA 6 USS America regained its flight-deck recertification for launching and recovering aircraft earlier this month off the coast of its San Diego homeport, moving one step closer to joining operations with Amphibious Squadron 3 and Expeditionary Strike Group 3.

China’s rapid missile buildup continues to be noteworthy, the Pentagon says in its latest annual report on the Asian country’s military.

The first squadron of Tejas light fighters is expected to begin operations later this year.

Garnering an investment from the Canadian Federal Government is a “complex” proposition and Bombardier is “working” on it, although timing is uncertain, according to CEO and president Alain Bellemare.

NASA is likely to enter an agreement with China late this summer aimed at collaborating on improvements to the Asian nation’s air traffic control (ATC) system.

A pair of Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters have completed the first-ever eastbound transatlantic crossing by the new fighter.

India has successfully launched the first test model of its indigenously developed Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), aimed at reducing the cost of future space missions.

With the U.S. Navy using its F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets more rigorously than initially expected, Boeing has started preliminary assessments of what is needed to overhaul the aircraft, increase its combat life and keep it relevant much later into this century.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, newly arrived at its Florida launch site, faces a round of end-of-the-month ground tests at Kennedy Space Center in preparation for a planned Sept. 8 liftoff on the nation’s first attempt to retrieve a sample from an asteroid and return the material to Earth.

The Tether Eye is designed to act as a virtual observation tower to provide 24-hr.-a-day surveillance for security at strategic infrastructure or forward bases.

Best known for its prowess at finding and characterizing hundreds of extrasolar planets, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope is offering new insight into possible processes that enabled early Earth to generate the chemistry and climate necessary for biological activity.

The U.S. Navy has integrated the Reduced Oxygen Breathing Device into aviation hypoxia training as a bridge to a more permanent system.

Vertical flight in the news: Boeing’s Phantom Swift looks ahead; Lilium unveils electric VTOL; AVX and Karem advance FVL designs; AHS and Sikorsky announce new prize; Closer look at Leonardo’s AW169.

Senior India air force officers stress that a permanent solution is needed for the country’s out-of-date VVIP helicopter transport situation.

The U.S. Navy could save money by shifting its missile-salvo defensive anti-air warfare (AAW) strategy away from long-range interceptors and toward medium-range surface-to-air interceptors, hypervelocity projectiles, directed energy weapons and electronic warfare systems, the CSBA says.

Sweden’s air force has stepped up air exercises and quick-reaction forces in the face of increased tension in the Baltics.

Dispersed vertical-insertion operations within enemy target areas could counter strategies to strike U.S. forces with missile salvos, according to a new report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

A U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) Airbus A330 Voyager aerial refueling aircraft has been conducting clearance trials with the F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter which will allow the fighter to refuel from the tanker.

Airbus Helicopters U.K. has been chosen to provide helicopters for the U.K.’s Military Flight Training System (MFTS).

The Berlin ILA air show is trying to promote its new focus on innovation, but A400M issues threaten to dominate instead.

Saab is targeting countries not cleared to purchase the JSF, but that can comfortably justify the higher upfront cost of the Gripen E/F.