Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Tony Osborne
Italy’s Financial Police have arrested three Italians and three Chinese over an apparent Chinese attempt to acquire an Italian aerospace company.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
General Atomics’ SkyGuardian medium-altitude, long-endurance uncrewed air system has flown from the UK into the Netherlands airspace as part of a series of demonstration flights.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Chen Chuanren
Bell Flight says it is optimistic about the development of the rotorcraft market in China, saying the sector is large enough to support both domestic and foreign-made platforms.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Irene Klotz
Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket exploded less than 2 min. after liftoff on Sept. 2, ending a debut flight test some 10 years in the making.
Space

By Molly McMillin
Spirit AeroSystems, Boeing’s largest supplier, celebrated the opening of its state-of-the-art Global Digital Logistics Center on Sept. 2, which Spirit says puts it years ahead of the competition.
Airports, FBOs & Suppliers

By Irene Klotz
Firefly Aerospace is on track for the first flight test of its Alpha launch vehicle, a two-stage, liquid-oxygen-and-kerosene-fueled booster designed to carry 2,205 lb. to low Earth orbit.
Commercial Space

By Brian Everstine
Nicolas Chaillan, the U.S. Air Force’s first chief software officer, announced his resignation Sept. 2 in a lengthy social media post calling out the service for not effectively funding and prioritizing cybersecurity efforts, and the Pentagon for refusing to put money behind initiatives that officials claim are priorities.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Irene Klotz
The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating a deviation in the flightpath cleared for the descent of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Unity to Spaceport America in New Mexico, following its suborbital flight with Richard Branson and five employees aboard on July 11.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and local members of Congress spoke to the crew aboard the International Space Station Sept. 2, discussing the ISS and the agency’s efforts to return to the Moon.
Space

By Tony Osborne
Leonardo’s Osprey flat-panel active electronically scanned array radar has been adopted for use by Canada’s National Aerial Surveillance Program to patrol the country’s vast coastline.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Michael Bruno
Just weeks after announcing a successful demonstration of their combined products and services for U.S. military and intelligence customers, big-data analytics disruptor Palantir Technologies said it will invest in BlackSky, a startup with a burgeoning constellation of imaging satellites and its own data analytics service.
Space

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has restarted production of several major structural assemblies to support new Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70/72
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Sean Broderick, Brian Everstine
After some logistical hurdles during the CRAF effort’s first few days moving evacuees to the U.S., federal officials have worked with airlines and airports to improve procedures.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Steve Trimble
Boeing has delivered the last of a 16-year run of F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Block II fighters, the company announced Sept. 2 on Twitter. The company
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
LG Chem, South Korea’s largest chemical company, plans to build the country’s first plant producing biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel from vegetable oils.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Japan’s SoftBank and its subsidiary HAPSMobile are developing new high-capacity communications systems as they prepare to launch commercial services providing connectivity from the stratosphere using long-endurance unmanned aircraft.
Commercial Space

By Tony Osborne
Qatar’s first BAE Systems Hawk jet trainers, which will fly as part of a joint Qatari and UK Royal Air Force training squadron, have been formally handed over.
Light Attack and Advanced Training

By Jen DiMascio
The House Armed Services Committee has approved a bill to authorize spending $778 billion for U.S. defense efforts in fiscal 2022, increasing by about 3% the amount it had initially sought.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Chen Chuanren
The Japanese Ministry of Defense has requested billions of yen to study and develop both defensive and offensive capabilities in the unmanned, hypersonic, electronic warfare and space domains.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Tony Osborne
Oil and gas support helicopter operator CHC says it has completed the acquisition of Babcock’s offshore helicopters business, even though the transaction is still awaiting approvals from competition watchdogs in Australia and the UK.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
The SCiFIRE project is expected to build on the DARPA Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept program and mature technology for the follow-on Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile program.
Missile Defense & Weapons

Brian Everstine
The Pentagon is reaching out to small businesses to learn about the barriers they face in winning Defense Department contracts, as the proportion of smaller companies in the defense industrial base continues to shrink.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Jen DiMascio
The House Armed Services Committee on Sept. 1 voted 42-17 to authorize a $23.9 billion increase in U.S. defense spending, for a total of $778 billion in fiscal 2022.
Budget, Policy & Operations

Brian Everstine
The Pentagon is not ruling out possible collaboration with the Taliban as it looks to target the Islamic State-Khorasan group within Afghanistan for “over-the-horizon” counterterrorism strikes with no U.S. forces in the country.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Tony Osborne
Nigeria’s Air Force has inducted the Embraer A-29 Super Tucano as the country strengthens its air arm to fight against the growing threat of Islamic extremists in West Africa.
Aircraft & Propulsion