Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Bill Carey
A drone operated by a team on shore delivered a five-pound payload containing circuit cards, medical supplies and food to the USS Hawaii.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Chinese urban air mobility (UAM) company Ehang plans to launch an initial public offering of shares on the U.S. Nasdaq stock exchange.

By Steve Trimble, Lee Hudson
The U.S. Air Force’s vision to rapidly produce multiple fleets of advanced fighters the way Apple makes iPhones begins with an important change in plans for the secretive Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The Finnish government has issued a second, revised request for quotations for a future combat aircraft to replace the country’s F/A-18 Hornet fleet.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Partway through its makeover as an unmanned aircraft and automotive sensors specialist, FLIR Systems will shake up its business portfolio after low organic business growth, according to new comments from management.
Defense

VERTEX AEROSPACE LLC has $30m U.S. Air Force contract for C-12 contractor logistic support.

A Boeing engineer raised concerns about the reliance of a critical 737 MAX flight-control system on a single point-of-failure as early as December 2015.

Raytheon will upgrade test equipment for the AIM-120 Amraam at six military ranges.

SPACE FOUNDATION estimates revenues from global commercial space activity in 2018 reached $328.86b.

Matt Jouppi, [email protected]
The Boeing MQ-25 Stingray is a jet-powered, Group 5 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will perform aerial refueling missions for the U.S. Navy (USN).

By Bill Carey
Merging airline flights more efficiently with commercial space launch and re-entry activities requires that prototype technology be advanced to operational status, speakers told an Air Line Pilots Association conference.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Spirit AeroSystems will buy Bombardier’s aerostructures businesses in Northern Ireland and Morocco, as well as an MRO business in Dallas
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Airbus Defense and Space has made a strategic investment in U.S.-based Amprius, which is developing high-energy-density batteries.

By Tony Osborne
Britain’s Royal Air Force has taken delivery of its first Boeing P-8 Poseidon, an initial step toward restoring its long-range maritime patrol capability.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
Raytheon will upgrade test equipment for the AIM-120 Amraam at six military ranges, the U.S. Air Force announced Oct. 30.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The inquiry found that the pilot, Iain Traill, had “took a chance” that the low fuel warnings he received were erroneous, Sheriff Principal Craig Turnball concluded in his report into the Clutha Vaults accident, published Oct. 30.

By Steve Trimble
As the U.S. Air Force comes within weeks of the first operational laser weapons, the Defense Department is hatching new concepts to address the power and thermal management limits of the state-of-the-art in the directed energy field.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
While field geology will remain a prominent part of future lunar astronauts' “to do” lists, much more may be expected of them.
Defense

By Bill Carey
Pilots approaching a runway were able to see a drone encroaching in their airspace 30% of the time, according to a study by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Oklahoma State University (OSU).

By Jen DiMascio
The Senate Armed Services Committee has filed a slimmed-down version of its annual defense policy legislation.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
L3Harris Technologies has begun advertising the sale of “several” business units deemed peripheral to the newly merged company’s strategy, the top L3Harris leader said Oct. 30, with proceeds earmarked to go to stock repurchases.
Defense

By Bill Carey
Leading small drone manufacturer DJI has unveiled a highly capable quadcopter weighing 249 grams (0.5 lb.), which exempts it by 1 gram from registration requirements in the U.S. and other countries.

By Tony Osborne
The European Commission (EC) has cleared the acquisition of British defense firm Cobham by U.S. private equity firm Advent International, but approvals from the British government are still pending.
Defense

By Steve Trimble
Taiwan’s Parliament has approved funding to buy 66 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 fighters, the country’s president says.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
GKN Aerospace announced Oct. 30 that it appointed Krisstie Kondrotis as president of its defense division effective Nov. 1, marking a key executive transfer between rivals.
Defense