Some industry pundits say Pentagon changes will try to force more buy-in from industry on research and development and more competition between companies, among other elements, as the government tries to stretch scarcer dollars.
Customer deferrals, trade sanctions and a deteriorating economic outlook have forced Rolls to accelerate a planned restructuring, which will mainly affect its U.K. civil aero-engine workforce, even though many of the issues are afflicting the company’s Land & Sea division, which produces nuclear energy and power systems.
A pair of Lockheed Martin F-35Cs have successfully completed their first series of arrested landings and catapult takeoffs from the carrier USS Nimitz this month, marking the start of the developmental test program for the U.S. Navy’s first stealthy piloted aircraft.
A Chinese airlifter as big as the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules will go into service in the 2020s if the factory behind the project, Shaanxi Aircraft, is given a go-ahead, as expected.
New launch and recovery system is designed to enable a beyond-line-of-sight, multi-intelligence unmanned aircraft, with 10-12-hr. time on station at 500 nm, to be independent of runways and flight decks.
Six years after its reorganization into specialist subsidiaries, Avic is handling a wide range of civil aircraft programs, with a remarkable number of mostly secretive engine developments also coming into view. It still has challenges, however, beginning with its sheer size: it has 400,000 employees, many working in fields unrelated to building aircraft.
The 10th Zhuhai air show sees China emerging as a one-stop military aerospace provider, from surveillance satellites to 50-kg small-diameter precision-guided munitions.
Pentagon procurement chief Frank Kendall is confident Boeing can deliver the initial KV-46s in 2017, but sees possible additional costs for the company
The agency’s ultimate goal is to integrate the disparate elements of a vast ballistic missile defense system—including satellites, airborne infrared data and ground- and ship-based radars—into a single network of sensors and shooters functioning seamlessly.
Signature of a contract for 36 Saab JAS 39E/F Gripen fighters for Brazil—covering technology transfer, the development of the JAS 39F two-seater and a substantial role in the program for Embraer and other Brazilian companies—is a turning point in Gripen’s history, Saab officials say.
As France prepares to battle the European Commission over its 2015 spending plan, Paris is under pressure to reduce the nation’s deficit, even as its military takes on new operational commitments in Africa and the Middle East. Pro-defense lawmakers also worry that the six-year military spending plan will collapse if some of the defense ministry’s anticipated funding sources do not materialize as planned.
The Pentagon’s proposed new strategy—Third Offset—builds on operational challenges faced in the 1950s and 1970s—that took advantage of U.S. technological leadership to overcome operational challenges.
The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments paper details the roles of new and existing systems in the Third Offset strategy; a larger role for the Long-Range Strike Bomber is one of several systems listed.
Ahead of the Zhuhai air show, Aviation Week's International Defense Editor Bill Sweetman talks to Defense Managing Editor Jen DiMascio about the J-20 Chinese fighter.
No matter who holds the majority in the Senate after the November midterm election, the fate of defense spending in the fiscal 2016 budget will be tied up in a larger tangle of spending issues.
The new Hawkeye provides a much improved UHF radar antenna useful for finding targets that are hard to see in other bands, such as cruise missiles and aircraft with low radar cross sections, which are types of threats to carrier strike groups that worry Navy officials.
The aerial refueling capability will extend the range and persistence of the U.S. Navy’s Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye to at least 7 hr., up from the current 4-6 hr.
