Defense and Space

Helicopter manufacturers may be closing in on a long-sought goal: eliminating rotor-blade vibration.

Based on the Russian Kh-55, the Soumar is believed to have a range of at least 2,000 km. “This missile represents a significant leap in the Middle East arms race,” says Col. Aviram Hasson of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization.

Take China’s 10.1% rise in defense spending and make two adjustments: reduce for the effect of inflation, then increase for the effect of officers now being less able to embezzle the people’s money

“The future is bright for Sikorsky,” says the CEO of the rotorcraft maker’s parent company, United Technologies Corp. (UTC) – but it is not bright enough to keep it inside UTC.

Short-term thinking seems to have become the strategy of choice for many publicly traded companies.

“The deal highlights another exit by private equity of a multiyear defense services investment,” says analyst Byron Callan of Capital Alpha Partners.

Common modules with digital beam-forming will reduce development expense and timescale, increase capability and flexibility for AESA radars and jammers.

Marine leaders believe that their JSF will be a war-winner. They should be given a chance to show how their plans will work.

Under pressure from slower-than-expected F-35 fielding, USAF is embarking on a pricey upgrade to keep the F-15 relevant into the 2040s.

The tremendous margin of technological superiority that the U.S. has typically enjoyed since end of World War II is eroding.

The first 18 Rafale jets are to be built in France. After that, India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. would take over production of the remaining aircraft.

The service will upgrade up to 413 F-15Cs and F-15Es, according to Air Combat Command officials.

With the completion of its 100th flight in February, the European nEUROn unmanned combat air system (UCAS) demonstrator has finished its test campaign in France and will now move to Italy and later Sweden.

Truck-stopping laser; Lockheed backs Rocket Lab smallsat booster; quantum radar entangles microwaves and optics; CMCs feel the heat in GE engine tests; Kalashnikov buys into Russian UAV maker, and other unmanned news.

CEOs are often unprepared for their myriad challenges. Pressure to consolidate across borders could ratchet up the pressure.

The winners of Aviation Week's annual Laureate Awards, honoring extraordinary achievements in the global aerospace arena, were announced at a gala dinner in Washington DC on March 5, 2015.

Despite recent test failures, Israel hopes to achieve initial operational capability for Arrow anti-missile system in 2016.

South Korean fighter program progresses with Korean Air Lines/Airbus teaming to bid for KF-X fighter contract.

U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) took nearly a month to openly acknowledge to the press that one of the country’s oldest satellites fragmented into 43 pieces in orbit last month, creating a debris field.

The X4, now called the H160, is Airbus Helicopters’ €1 billion gamble to retake a market long monopolized by AgustaWestland.

The sleek design of the Airbus Helicopters H160 is supposed to represent a major change in direction for the company, with new development processes and production techniques.

Successor to the AS365 Dauphin has been decades in the making.

Six DMSP satellites are now left to provide the weather data needed for the military.

The story of the Navy’s stealth unmanned air vehicle has taken some new turns. Is a secret project behind the changes?

The Harris-Exelis merger brings back to light some fundamental truths about the U.S. defense sector that otherwise tend to be forgotten.