Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Tony Osborne
The U.S. State Department has approved a long-awaited Foreign Military Sale of Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to Morocco.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
Defense against maneuvering hypersonic missiles will probably require interception while weapons are still climbing, former U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command chief Gen. Herbert Carlisle said.
Program Management

By Bradley Perrett, Kim Minseok
Taurus is promoting the KEPD 350 cruise missile to Japan for the Boeing F-15, despite a government statement in 2018 that it would acquire the Lockheed Martin AGM-158 Jassm for the fighter.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
MBDA sees a possibility of selling Meteor long-range air-to-air missiles to Japan despite the defense ministry’s current acquisition of Raytheon AIM-120C-7 Amraams.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
New Zealand has received State Department approvals to purchase five Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules following the type’s selection as its future transport aircraft.
Defense

Nov. 25-26—CTC-CAPA Corporate Travel Gathering - Australia, Sydney, Australia. For more information go to https://sydney18.capaevents.com

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Air Force has unveiled three “vanguard programs” designed to partially fulfill the service’s science and technology strategy.
Program Management

In the nick of time, the U.S. Senate voted 74-20 to pass a four-week extension to a continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the federal government open until Dec. 20.

The U.S. NAVY has awarded BAE SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS & SERVICES INC., Rockville, Maryland, a $104,775,349 contract to provide engineering and technical services.

By Tony Osborne
U.S.-based adversary air companies are beginning to return Dassault Mirage F1s to flight in preparation for their role as commercial-operated aggressor aircraft.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Unmanned aircraft pioneer AeroVironment is paying $500,000 to the U.S. government to settle an export rules violation case, will conduct at least another $500,000 in internal remediation actions, and continue under supervision, company and federal officials announced late Nov. 20.

By Marhalim Abas
Thailand is developing an armed variant of a locally made UAV as part of an effort to develop its defense industry.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
C4ISR and defense training provider Cubic saw its publicly traded shares lose around 20% in price Nov. 21, the day after the company forecast fiscal 2020 expectations that were softer than Wall Street expected.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
NATO’s first Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) platform, a derivative of the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air system, has arrived in Europe, a major milestone for the delayed program.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
A company with hopes of winning the U.S. Air Force’s light attack competition, Air Tractor, has filed two bid protests with the Government Accountability Office.
Defense

By Irene Klotz
A prototype upper-stage for SpaceX’s Mars-class Starship launch vehicle was destroyed during a maximum pressurization test Nov. 20 at the company’s Boca Chica Beach, Texas, complex.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
A NASA strategy to partner with the U.S. commercial sector to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) could enrich a growing global space economy if the agency and its international partners can stay the course to the Moon and Mars, its top strategist told SpaceCom 2019 on Nov 20.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
London-based Spacebit is opening a Lansing, Michigan, office to find and develop investment opportunities in the U.S. that meet its lunar commerce ecosystem business strategy.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s Inspector General predicts that certification of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Commercial Crew Program (CCP) spacecraft will occur no sooner than summer 2020.
Defense

By Bill Carey
The Dutch Caribbean Air Navigation Service Provider (DC-ANSP), responsible for managing air traffic from the Caribbean island of Curacao, has started using space-based surveillance data from Aireon to track aircraft.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
U.S. DOD Secretary Mark Esper is urging the FCC head to reject Ligado Networks’ license modification request to allow sat frequencies near the GPS band to be used for terrestrial 5G networks.
Defense

By Marhalim Abas
The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) has awarded Leonardo a contract to supply a RAT 31DL air defense radar system, the company says.
Defense

Illinois-based Air USA says it is close to finalizing plans to import F-5E/Fs from an undisclosed country to support the U.S. Air Force’s adversary air training contract.

BELL BOEING JOINT PROJECT OFFICE has $379.4m U.S. Defense Logistics Agency contract for maintenance, repair and consumable material support for V-22 tiltrotor.

Morocco has requested the potential sale of up to 36 Boeing AH-64E Apache helicopters equipped with manned-unmanned teaming kits.