Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

LOS ANGELES – Boeing has rolled out the first of the final batch of “whitetail” C-17 airlifters, two of which it says have now been sold to an unidentified customer.

MOSCOW — Russia’s military will resume development of the new Ilyushin Il-112V light transport aircraft that was suspended in 2010. The defense ministry signed a contract with United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) for development of the new aircraft, the deputy head of the corporation’s military aviation programs directorate, Vladislav Goncharenko, told the Echo of Moscow radio station. Deliveries are planned for 2018, he said.

LOS ANGELES – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) says it has a 50% chance “at best” of successfully landing a Falcon 9 first stage on a floating platform on Dec. 19, but says lessons learned will enable it to land and relaunch a used first stage by the end of 2015.

NEW DELHI — India’s first experimental flight of its latest Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV Mk. 3) with a Crew module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE) will take place on Dec. 18. The 24.5-hr. countdown for the mission began at 9 a.m. local time on Dec. 17. The lesser duration of the countdown for the mission is due to the dummy cryogenic stage.

Aerospace companies, on average, managed to make money this year than last, despite some industry-buffeting storms, but the forecast for 2015 is less certain, according to the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). “Overall, aerospace and defense companies stayed profitable in 2014 compared with 2013,” AIA says in its 2014 Year-End Review and Forecast, released Dec. 17. (See charts pp. 7-8.)

LONDON — The Netherlands government is restarting deliveries of naval versions of the NH90 helicopter six months after halting them over concerns about corrosion. Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said new agreements were now in place with the aircraft’s manufacturer, NHindustries – a joint venture of AgustaWestland, Airbus Helicopters and Fokker – which gave her confidence that the corrosion issues would be resolved.

LONDON — The Netherlands government is restarting deliveries of naval versions of the NH90 helicopter six months after halting them over concerns about corrosion. Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said new agreements were now in place with the aircraft’s manufacturer, NHindustries – a joint venture of AgustaWestland, Airbus Helicopters and Fokker – which gave her confidence that the corrosion issues would be resolved.

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Orbital Sciences Corp. will buy directly from Russia’s NPO Energomash a new rocket engine with a long heritage, to replace the surplus Russian

U.S. AIR FORCE approved full-rate production for LOCKHEED MARTIN Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile – Extended Range (JASSM-ER); company has

Credit analysts at Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services forecast that credit quality for U.S. airlines will continue to improve in 2015 due to cheaper

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) plans to conduct three ambitious “firsts” in the next five years for its Boeing-led Ground-Based Midcourse

Karem Aircraft is to continue work on an unmanned version of its Optimum Speed Tilt Rotor (OSTR) concept under a Defense Advanced Research Projects

The South Korean finance ministry has approved 8.8 trillion won ($8.1 billion) for full-scale development of the KF-X indigenous fighter, leaving

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope remains on track for a launch in October 2018, but with diminished cost and schedule reserves and a range of

The U.S. Navy completed tests earlier this month on the GhostSwimmer unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort

The U.S. and its allies need to develop even more integrated military forces to ensure security in Asia, according to the Center for Strategic and

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Boeing is planning for first flight of its 767-2C – upon which the U.S. Air Force’s new KC-46 tanker will be based – by year’s end, six months late.

PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA plans to invest >C$1b in R&D over next 54 months on next-gen high-performance aircraft engines; Government of Canada is funding

LONDON – Airbus Helicopters, Cobham and Elbit have been downselected to compete to provide the U.K. armed forces with its next-generation training

After days of debate, lawmakers passed a fiscal 2015 spending bill that again weighs in on the back-and-forth over the U.S. Air Force U-2 surveillance

Aerospace and aviation supplier Alcoa is continuing its rollup of metals providers — and critical link-forming with giant manufacturers Airbus Group

Russia’s drive to re-establish a superpower-like weapons industry continues to pay off, literally, according to the latest version of a widely watched

HOUSTON—For the third year in a row, NASA is perched atop the rankings as the best place to work in the U.S. federal government, according to a 2014