Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Mark Carreau
Evidence for significant amounts of water ice in the permanently shaded polar regions of the Moon has become a significant lure for a sustained NASA led-human return.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Crane is going public with a hostile takeover attempt to buy Circor for $1.7 billion in cash.
Defense

By Guy Norris
SAS Scandinavian Airlines has signed a research agreement with Airbus to study hybrid and electric aircraft technology.

India’s space agency has launched its latest Earth observation satellite, Risat-2B.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
British urban air mobility startup Vertical Aerospace has teamed up with engineering consultancy Atkins to develop infrastructure to support future UAM services.

GENERAL DYNAMICS ELECTRIC BOAT has $497m U.S. Navy contract for submarine industrial base development and expansion in support of Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, and the nuclear shipbuilding enterprise (Virginia, Ford class).

U.S. President Donald Trump has nominated Barbara Barrett, former chair of the Aerospace Corporation, to be the next Air Force secretary.

By Jen DiMascio
Debate on a House Appropriations Committee bill to provide $690 billion to the Pentagon for fiscal 2020 included words of warning by the defense subcommittee chairman over the creation of the Space Force.
Defense

By Irene Klotz
NASA plans to decommission the Spitzer Space Telescope in January 2020 after attempts to find a university or research agency to take over operations of the bellwether infrared observatory failed.
Defense

By Bill Carey
NASA and the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems demonstrated drone flights in downtown Reno, Nevada, on May 21 as part of the final phase of development of an unmanned aircraft system traffic management capability.

By Lee Hudson
A government watchdog organization has recommended that the DOD conduct an independent schedule assessment for the USAF next-generation ground control system for GPS III sats, but the military disagrees.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
The UK Civil Aviation Authority has launched a mechanism to collaborate with companies developing tech such as drone deliveries, airspace integration, urban air taxis and AI.

By Lee Hudson
U.S. President Donald Trump has nominated Barbara Barrett, former chair of the Aerospace Corporation, to be the next Air Force secretary.
Defense

By Lee Hudson
A U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier crashed May 20 near Havelock, North Carolina, and the pilot ejected safely from the aircraft.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
Scientists from the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) have compiled a widely accessible topographical map of the Moon’s south pole.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Chinese international express logistics company DHL-Sinotrans has launched a full automated drone delivery service under a strategic partnership with autonomous aircraft developer Ehang.

By Graham Warwick
BlackBird Partners, an Uber-like service providing flights in private aircraft via a smartphone app, has agreed to buy a fleet of electric-powered light aircraft now under development by Bye Aerospace.

By Angus Batey
The idea that a jet's flight controls could be hijacked in flight by hackers continues to capture public imagination. Aircraft manufacturers insist it is impossible. But this does not mean that aircraft are immune from cyber attacks.
Defense

By Angus Batey
The idea that a jet's flight controls could be hijacked in flight by hackers continues to capture public imagination. Aircraft manufacturers insist it is impossible. But this does not mean that aircraft are immune from cyber attacks.
Defense

By Bill Carey
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has advised organizations of “inherent risks” associated with using unmanned aircraft systems manufactured in China.
Defense

By Molly McMillin
Textron Aviation is expanding its platforms for special mission capabilities as it marks delivery of its first Citation Latitude configured for medevac applications.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Bell has demonstrated that the V-280 Valor tiltrotor has low-speed agility that matches or beats the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.
Defense

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, has been awarded $139,808,430 for modification P00009 to a previously awarded, fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-16-D-1002).

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT approved $317m Foreign Military Sale to Japan of 160 AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles and support.

By Steve Trimble
A newly published unit cost estimate by the U.S. Army of $43 million for a proposed high-speed rotorcraft is an encouraging sign that service officials are entering the program with realistic expectations, a senior Boeing executive says.
Defense