Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Tony Osborne
A Thales Watchkeeper UAV has become the first unmanned system to be operated in U.K. nonsegregated, controlled airspace.
Defense

With MV-22 Osprey gaining more ground in global missions and operations, the U.S. Marine Corps is working on developing a more robust logistics and supply chain.
Defense

Hawaii V-22 accident appears to have been caused by a newly identified ingestion issue, but a solution is years away at best.
Defense

Lockheed Martin has teamed with Israel’s StemRad Ltd. to develop a vest astronauts could wear during solar storms and other dangerous radiation events.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The UAVs have been used at the sites of 16 crashes around the U.K., said Stuart Hawkins, a senior inspector of air accidents delegates to the AAIB.

EUROFIGHTER CONSORTIUM is discussing with customers a manufacturing defect identified during assembly of fin to rear fuselage in all Typhoons produced to date. Defect does not affect safety, company says. Typhoon is in service at 22 operational units.

​French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to leave his post if he wins a regional election in Brittany in December, according to French media reports. Le Drian, who was appointed defense minister by President Francois Hollande in 2012, has been lauded by the French general staff and the nation’s aerospace and defense industry for his role in promoting exports of defense equipment, notably ships, aircraft and spy satellites in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

Foreign air forces using the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are being compelled to build and fund U.S.-based software laboratories that generate data crucial to the fighter’s ability to identify threats.
Defense

With its new Bloostar concept,Spain-based Zero2infinty hopes to meet growing demand from the burgeoning nanosat community for an affordable, dedicated ride to space.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, current commander of the International Space Station, sailed to a new U.S. record for time accumulated in space on Oct. 15.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Gloria Flach will become COO of Northrop Grumman in January, a move that could set in motion a succession plan for the Pentagon prime contractor’s CEO position.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The first hints have emerged that the U.K. Royal Air Force may be planning to keep some of its early-model Tranche 1 Eurofighter Typhoons in service for longer.
Defense

By Molly McMillin
Bell Helicopter has named Mitch Snyder president and CEO, replacing John Garrison, who is joining Terex Corp. as president and CEO.
Defense

By Jay Menon
India has signed a contract with Slovenia-based Pipistrel Aircraft to buy 194 Virus SW80s and is likely to buy an additional 100 aircraft after three years.
Defense

North America AeroVironment says it has been dropped from Darpa’s Tern medium-altitude long-endurance UAV program after a competition for the third and final phase of the program to demonstrate a Predator-class unmanned aircraft that can operate from smaller warships. Subscale flight tests were about to begin when the company was deselected. Northrop Grumman was the other contractor involved in Phase 2 of Tern, but says it has not received confirmation from Darpa that it will receive a contract for Phase 3.

By Jen DiMascio
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is calling for a “new playbook” that prizes highly mobile forces, hybrid warfare, cyber battles and nuclear deterrence to counter Russian aggression.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
The U.S. Army could cut years and billions of dollars from the planned Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Medium advanced-rotorcraft program by going straight into development after completion of the Joint Multi Role (JMR) technology demonstration, Bell Helicopter President and CEO John Garrison says.
Defense

Following performance issues during recent testing, the U.S. Navy’s planned unmanned underwater minehunter is facing greater scrutiny, the service says.
Defense

NASA is weighing a robotic Mars-landing mission as early as 2026 to flight test critical technologies with subscale components in preparation for a human landing.
Space

NASA has asked the European Space Agency and Airbus Defense and Space to build and deliver a second European service module to power the U.S.-led Orion crew vehicle.
Defense

OneWeb Ltd. has appointed former GeoEye president and CEO Matt O’Connell as its new chief executive officer.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Mark Kirasich, deputy manager of NASA’s Orion program since 2006, will manage the $1.1 billion-a-year effort to develop a new U.S. human spacecraft for future deep space exploration.
Defense

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to leave his post if he wins a regional election in Brittany in December, French media reports say.
Defense

By Jay Menon
India is planning to launch an advanced meteorological satellite in July 2016 to augment the country’s weather forecasting and disaster warning capabilities.
Defense

NORTHROP GRUMMAN has $58m U.S. Marine Corps contract for Ground Weapon Locating Radar (GWLR) development and testing