Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Jefferson Morris
FAREWELL, SPEEDY: Jim “Speedy” Mathews left Aviation Week Sept. 4, a fter a 26-year stint that touched almost all of the group’s publications. He left

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recently ordered a three-week extension to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions being flown

By Graham Warwick
With the goal of establishing a public-private partnership to provide robotic servicing of commercial and military satellites in geostationary orbit

PARIS—French shipbuilding company DCNS continues to host Russian naval personnel aboard one of two Mistral-class amphibious warships the company was

By Tony Osborne
NEWPORT, Wales—Raytheon and the U.K. defense ministry are planning a series of trials that could lead to its Sentinel radar surveillance aircraft

HOUSTON—An electrical issue that may have been related to solar flare activity is now considered the likely culprit behind a problem-plagued

By Tony Osborne
KIELCE, Poland — Airbus Helicopter is accelerating plans to produce its EC225 heavy helicopter in Brazil to deal with higher-than-expected levels of

The U.S. 7th Fleet flagship LCC 19 USS Blue Ridge recently completed the joint exercise, Ulchi Freedom Guardian 2014 (UFG 14), with the Republic of

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By Guy Norris
LOS ANGELES — The big three U.S. makers of aircraft engines — General Electric, Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney — are each considering responses to the

The microcracks in the third stage of the integrally bladed rotor that caused a catastrophic F135 engine fire in an F-35A on June 23 began forming

SCOUT: The U.K. Ministry of Defense has awarded General Dynamics UK a £3.5 billion ($5.8 billion) contract to deliver 589 Scout armored vehicles to

By Tony Osborne
The first of 22 Airbus A400M Atlas airlifters destined for the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) has made its first flight in Spain. The aircraft—MSN 15—took

HOUSTON — Boeing is set to initiate production of the NASA Docking System Block 1, a new universal hardware set to debut aboard the agency’s soon-to

By Tony Osborne
KIELCE, Poland — Although the M-346 fighter trainer won’t be introduced until 2016, Alenia Aermacchi says it is preparing for an ambitious program to

By Tony Osborne
LONDON — Slovakia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sweden and the Czech Republic, moving the country closer to a potential Gripen

By Tony Osborne
KIELCE, Poland — The French army is looking into deploying its NH90 Caiman helicopters to support French troops in Central Africa before the end of

By Guy Norris
LOS ANGELES — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has completed the operations critical design review for its Dragon Rider space vehicle under

France has delayed delivery of Russia’s costliest defense import, a $1.5 billion deal for two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships. The first, named

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By Michael Bruno
The most powerful acquisition official in the Pentagon is about to give contractors what they want – and fear – the most: more competition. Frank

By Mark Carreau
HOUSTON — Explore Mars, through the support of Aerojet Rocketdyne, has started to model the ExoLance penetrator design it recently proposed to

ANOTHER HIT: The use of Iron Dome in Israel’s conflict with Gaza continues to be fodder for discussion and debate. A new study by Michael Armstrong of

By Mark Carreau

Submarine Development Squadron 5 (CSDS 5), Detachment UUV (unmanned undersea vehicle), took delivery of Large Training Vehicle 38 (LTV 38) last month