Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

A request for information posted on Oct. 11 seeks options for an “emerging requirement” for surveillance platforms capable of sustained flight above 60,000 ft.

The UK Royal Air Force has re-formed a squadron to fly the General Atomics Protector uncrewed aircraft system.

Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder has told Belgian radio station RTL on Oct. 11 that Belgium would be able to send F-16s to Ukraine after 2025­.

Denmark, Finland, Germany and the UK announced their intentions Oct. 10 ahead of the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group being held in Brussels.

The test campaign saw more than 500 dry and wet contacts between the Airbus A330 MRTT and Singapore's receivers, including F-15SGs and Lockheed Martin F-16s.

First-response efforts in Utah are coordinated at the county level by the county sheriff.

Azerbaijan has agreed to join the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) program.

An MQ-20 Avenger uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) has taken a small step on a flight test path to an inflight recovery of another small UAS.

The U.S. Army plans to complete its analysis of alternatives (AOA) on the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft by year’s end.

A pair of privately owned Iranian cubesats are slated to launch as secondary payloads aboard a Russian Soyuz-2 rocket in December.

The National Reconnaissance Office plans to quadruple the number of satellites it has in orbit.

The U.S. Army has selected Sierra Nevada Corp. to provide two contractor-owned, contractor-operated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.

An external coolant leak from a backup radiator on the International Space Station’s Russian segment Nauka multipurpose laboratory module has ceased.

The Pentagon plans to allocate $240 million under the CHIPS and Science Act to set up eight regional innovation hubs that will serve to beef up domestic microelectronics manufacturing.

U.S. financial analysts do not see the latest Middle East conflict rising to the same level for a long-term arms buildup like the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Flight testing will resume next fall after a two-year hiatus on a new version of a U.S. Navy- and Norwegian military-funded Nammo SFRJ missile.

SkyDrive of Japan has formed a production subsidiary to build its electric SD-05 eVTOL aircraft at a Suzuki Motor company manufacturing plant starting in 2024.

A Boeing/Saab team is on track to deliver the first Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb and a new launcher to the Ukrainian military, a company official said on Oct. 9.

Germany has launched a pilot project combining uncrewed aircraft and electric bikes to deliver groceries to residents.

The company says the trials are an “important step” as the AAM industry prepares to introduce eVTOL aircraft.

Ukraine’s Antonov could be granted licensed production of the French-developed Aarok medium-altitude, long-endurance uncrewed aircraft system.

The European Union is making €300 million ($318 million) available to member states in a bid to encourage common procurement of defense equipment.

Honeywell International said Oct. 10 it will realign its business around three trends: automation, the future of aviation, and energy transition.

Ground controllers saw flakes coming from the leak site—on one of two radiators—on Oct. 9 at about 1 p.m. EDT, using externally mounted ISS cameras, NASA says.

Two competing hypervelocity projectiles have achieved record-setting distance flights from different types of long-range artillery systems.