AE Industrial Partners, a private equity investor in aerospace, power generation and specialty industrial companies, has acquired AC&A, a manufacturer of composite and metallic parts and tooling. The price was not disclosed.
Human-exploration managers at NASA hope to begin ground-testing a prototype habitat in 2018 for eventual use by Orion-vehicle astronauts in orbit around the Moon.
Sikorsky and the American Helicopter Society (AHS) International, which offered the human-powered helicopter prize finally won in 2013, have launched a “Hover for a Day” challenge to achieve new levels of helicopter efficiency and reliability.
Bell Helicopter is moving production of its new Model 505 JetRanger X light helicopter from the U.S. to Canada as part of a restructuring that will “optimize manufacturing capabilities,” the company says.
Leonardo Helicopters is expanding the flight envelope of the AW169 intermediate twin-engine helicopter, with flight tests planned in Leadville, Colorado, to determine single-engine Category A performance in hot-and-high conditions.
India’s indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), meant to replace the country’s aging Soviet-era MiG-21 fleet, is running behind schedule for induction into the Indian air force (IAF).
A European service module destined to fly on NASA’s Orion multipurpose crew vehicle in 2018 is starting to take shape at Airbus Defense and Space in Bremen, Germany.
European missile manufacturer MBDA has been awarded a four-year, £411 million ($599 million) contract by the U.K. defense ministry to develop the Spear III turbojet-powered small-diameter missile for the F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
To match the rate of global naval development, the U.S. needs to shift into a much higher gear, says Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations.
Venture capital interest in entrepreneurial space startups is also providing new investment and renewed hopes for companies that have been developing small launch vehicles for several years on slender resources.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station supervised a final round of CubeSat deployments on May 18, having dispatched 17 small sats in all over three days with a NanoRacks deployer for a range of missions.
The Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) program is in the process of briefing U.S. Strategic Command to transition into an early combatant commander use period, according to a U.S. Army officer.
Saab is confident of achieving a flight test program with just one-third of the flying hours taken to test the original Gripen. First flight is planned by the end of the year.
Unlocking the true potential of unmanned systems will require building greater trust of the systems among users, according to a panel of military unmanned systems leaders speaking at the recent Sea-Air-Space symposium here.
Germany’s Deutsche Post DHL says there is no obstacle to field trials of its latest Parcelcopter unmanned delivery aircraft in urban areas following completion of an experimental trial in the Bavarian Alps.
The “AW209” designation, revealed in a May 3 presentation to an Italian parliamentary committee by Leonardo (formerly Finmeccanica) CEO Mauro Moretti, is a placeholder for the helicopter division’s next new AgustaWestland product.
The U.S. Air Force and Navy service secretaries and members of Congress have complained processing is so slow that U.S. businesses stand to lose Foreign Military Sales because the process is so slow.
