Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
Airbus backs community-designed carmaker; Europe’s laminar wings progress; Ceramic nanoparticles make metal stronger; Smart bomb navigates by vision; Ducted-fan VTOL AirMule flies.
Air Transport

ARLINGTON, Virginia — Raytheon recently completed the first full array for its AN/SPY- 6(V) Air And Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) in 140 days. the company says.
Defense and Space

Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) believes its Dream Chaser vehicle’s capability and the billions it will earn delivering supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) will allow the company to complete development of a human-rated version.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA abruptly halted a planned 6 1/2-hr. spacewalk outside the International Space Station by U.S. and U.K. astronauts Tim Kopra and Tim Peake on Jan. 15 when water appeared in the helmet of Kopra’s NASA spacesuit.
Defense and Space

By Guy Norris
Orbital ATK plans to start ground tests next year of first elements for an all-new, next-generation launch vehicle to compete for the U.S. Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program.
Space

The European Space Agency (ESA) will spend €5.25 billion ($5.75 billion) this year, an increase over the €4.43 billion the agency spent last year that includes a boost in funding from the European Commission.
Defense and Space

By Jay Menon
A joint sea exercise between Indian and Japanese coast guards began Jan.15 in the southern Indian city of Chennai, with the goal of enhancing cooperation on anti-piracy operations and search-and-rescue missions.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s new Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) places a fresh, top-level agency focus on the detection and tracking of asteroids and comets that could threaten Earth, as well as the coordination of interagency and intergovernmental response efforts.
Defense and Space

Raytheon completed a successful captive flight test of a seeker designed for the Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile, the company says. The seeker will enable Tomahawk to engage moving targets on land and at sea.
Defense and Space

Mark Albrecht
Threats abound, yet we do not have a clearly stated, coherent security, intelligence or foreign policy strategy for each of these threats.
Defense and Space

By Graham Warwick
After its December first flight, NATO’s first Alliance Ground Surveillance Global Hawk is being mated with its radar sensor for test flights in the U.S. and Europe.
Defense and Space

By Jen DiMascio
Considering defense budget changes; A-10 evades retirement; United Airlines fined for treatment of disabled passengers.
Defense and Space

Sierra Nevada Corp. will join incumbents Orbital ATK and SpaceX in NASA’s $14 billion second-round contract to deliver cargo to the International Space Station.
Defense and Space

Work on a deep-space cargo vehicle and a robotic lunar lander is included in a $1.3 billion budget request from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for fiscal 2016.
Defense and Space

By Guy Norris
The U.S. Air Force has awarded two rocket propulsion system development contracts to Orbital ATK and SpaceX.
Defense and Space

By Guy Norris
Members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace will vote by Feb. 10 on whether to accept the terms of a new six-year contract extension tentatively agreed to with Boeing during secret negotiations.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
The German government says it has begun negotiations with Israel to purchase the Israel Aerospace Industries Heron TP medium altitude, long-endurance unmanned air vehicle.
Defense and Space

By Guy Norris
The last Lockheed Martin S-3B Viking aircraft to serve with the U.S. Navy has been retired, ending a 42-year career with the service.
Defense and Space

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says his country likely doubled its arms exports in 2015 to €16 billion, thanks in part to sales of Dassault Aviation’s Rafale combat jet to Egypt and Qatar last year.
Defense and Space

By Bradley Perrett
Japanese engineers are preparing to build a combat-engine core, following progress in materials research for the low-bypass turbofan, intended for the country’s next fighter, the F-3.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s Juno mission spacecraft, on course to maneuver into orbit around Jupiter on July 4, has become the most distant solar-powered spacecraft ever, according to an update from the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Defense and Space

By Tony Osborne
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency claims the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) report into the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines MH17 contains “unsubstantiated and inaccurate” conclusions.
Defense and Space

Israel’s defense industry often seems a jump ahead of competitors. Technology leaders explain how it’s done.
Defense and Space

Simulation is not the same as real flying, say Israeli engineers and aircrew. It can be far superior.
Defense and Space

By Michael Bruno
The big consumer electronics show in Las Vegas recently drew A&D eyeballs with chatter over autonomous cars, UAVs and the technology tie-in with the Pentagon’s Third Offset.
Defense and Space