Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Steve Trimble
Last year’s delivery total of 142 raises overall fleet deliveries to 753 aircraft, with 397 — or about 53% — coming in the last three years alone.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Denmark’s government has set the goal of all domestic aviation being fossil-free by 2030, potentially through a combination of sustainable aviation fuel and electric and hydrogen propulsion.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
UK startup Electric Aircraft Group and the University of Nottingham plan to establish a joint venture to develop megawatt-class electric propulsion systems.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Chen Chuanren
The Royal Thai Air Force is considering purchasing as many as eight Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning IIs as part of its modernization to replace its aging fleet of Northrop F-5E/Fs and F-16A/Bs.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Maxim Pyadushkin
The new Persei booster for Russia’s Angara 5A heavy rocket failed to deliver a dummy payload to its final geostationary orbit.
Space

By Irene Klotz
The reconfiguration of the James Webb Space Telescope continued on Dec. 30 with the removal of covers that protected the observatory’s delicate sunshield for launch, setting the stage for the deployment of a five-layer, tennis court-sized structure needed to passively cool the telescope for its science program.
Space

By Tony Osborne
The Netherlands has become the latest country to declare its F-35 fleet operational.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Irene Klotz
“There’s 344 things that now have to work perfectly,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a post-launch interview.
Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA and Roscosmos continue to pursue an astronaut/cosmonaut crew exchange agreement for Soyuz and NASA Commercial Crew launches to the International Space Station.
Space

By Chen Chuanren
A new Inmarsat I-6 F1 satellite was successfully put into orbit by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on Dec 23.
Commercial Space

By Brian Everstine
After awarding about $8 billion in contracts to adversary air and other private air support providers from fiscal 2015 to 2020, the U.S. military services are reviewing the performance of these companies to understand how they can better and more cost-effectively train aircrews.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
Startup company Volansi has jumped into the competition to replace the U.S. Army’s Textron RQ-7 Shadow, partnering with Sierra Nevada.
Multi-Mission Aircraft

By Irene Klotz
An Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket carrying the flagship James Webb Space Telescope was rolled out to launchpad ELA-3 at Guiana Space Center in French Guiana on Dec. 23 in preparation for liftoff at 7:20 a.m. EST on Dec. 25.
Space

By Mark Carreau
A Russian Progress propulsion module and instrument compartment that delivered the Prichal docking module to the International Space Station’s Russian-segment Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module departed the seven-person orbital science laboratory late Dec. 22 for a destructive atmospheric re-entry over the south Pacific Ocean.
Space

By Tony Osborne
The president of NHIndustries believes there is still a window of opportunity for the NH90 to remain in Australian service despite media reports suggesting a Black Hawk purchase could be a done deal.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Chen Chuanren
After more than five years of negotiations and unconfirmed reports, Indonesian Air Force chief Fadjar Prasetyo has finally confirmed that his service will no longer pursue the acquisition of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighters and instead focus on the Dassault Rafale and Boeing F-15EX.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Tony Osborne
The UK and Japan are to collaborate on a future fighter engine demonstrator as they look to the possible development of a joint engine to power both the F-X and Tempest manned combat aircraft.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force will start divesting its E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, starting with four of the aircraft in 2022, as the service tries to find its way ahead on the broad Advanced Battle Management System program to fill the aircraft’s role.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Tony Osborne
Airbus Helicopters has secured a long-awaited contract to develop its new H160 commercial helicopter into a military platform for use by three branches of the French Armed Forces.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
New data released by the State Department on Dec. 22 shows U.S. arms sales activity declined sharply in the first year of the Biden administration.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force has picked MacDill AFB, Florida, to be its next KC-46 base.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
A recent test release of the Raytheon GBU-53/B StormBreaker showed the effectiveness of the new small diameter bomb’s tri-mode seeker, as well as some operational limitations.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Mark Carreau
SpaceX’s 24th NASA-contracted Dragon resupply capsule autonomously rendezvoused with and docked to the International Space Station’s (ISS) U.S. segment early Dec. 22.
Space

By Tony Osborne
The U.S. State Department has approved the sale of electromagnetic catapults and arrestor gear to equip France’s next-generation aircraft carrier.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Irene Klotz
The flagship James Webb Space Telescope has been cleared for a launch attempt this week aboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket.
Space