Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

A near-collision between a drone and a Boeing 777 on March 25 has prompted Air New Zealand to call for stricter regulations for drone operators.

For pilots flying the U.S. Navy F-35C carrier variant, nighttime carrier operations have been made more difficult by a “green glow” that obscures their vision.
Defense

By Jay Menon
Three days after the launch of GSAT-6A, India’s newest communication satellite, the country’s space agency has lost all communications with the spacecraft.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Boeing and Saudi Arabian Military Industries are forming a joint venture for spending and work on MRO services for military aircraft in Saudi Arabia.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate will invest up to $6.5 million in 25 advanced tech concepts to further future human and robotic space exploration.
Defense

By Bill Carey
The USAF has allocated $250 million in its fiscal 2019 budget to equip 20 aircraft types for automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast Out position reporting.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
Chinese space engineers observed the country’s largest orbital re-entry so far on April 2 when the Tiangong 1 space lab fell into the South Pacific Ocean.
Space

The upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket SpaceX will make its first flight on a commercial mission for Bangladesh.
Space

BOEING has $19.3m U.S. Navy contract to investigate/address events related to physiological episodes on the F/A-18A-F and EA-18G aircraft.

NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold installed two wireless communications antennas and replaced a camera assembly during an abbreviated 6-hr. March 29 spacewalk.

View the Aviation Week Forecasts: Western Military Transport Deliveries/Retirements By Family 2018-2027 in PDF format.

By Guy Norris
SpaceX successfully deployed another batch of 10 of the communication company’s Next satellites into orbit on March 30.
Defense

India’s space agency has signed an agreement with the European Union to become part of a global data-sharing arrangement for Earth observation satellites.
Defense

By Irene Klotz
The FCC has cleared SpaceX to operate a megaconstellation of small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) to provide global, high-speed broadband services.
Defense

The U.S. government and Lockheed Martin must reduce F-35 costs or customers will have to make “tough decisions,” the U.S. Air Force Secretary says.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Stratospheric balloon startup World View Enterprises said March 29 it successfully closed a $26.5 million Series C round of financing.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Temporarily charging the exterior of an aircraft could significantly reduce the likelihood of a lightning strike, MIT researchers say.
Air Transport

The U.S. Navy is gearing up to declare its F-35C carrier variant ready for war in 2019.
Defense

Boeing is reorganizing the firm’s defense business in a move that could benefit its troubled KC-46 tanker.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
Japan has reorganized its army to create a central command for the first time since World War II and to establish an amphibious brigade.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
Turnaround specialist Melrose Industries succeeded in its hostile takeover of GKN.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The tiny Balkan country will purchase 12 F-16C/Ds from Israel that will undergo a life-extension program prior to delivery.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett, Kim Minseok
Lockheed Martin expects to deliver six F-35As to South Korea this year, out of 40 ordered.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
The KLJ-7A radar, which features an AESA, will be supplied to Pakistan for the FC-1 fighter, says Hu Mingchun, head of the Nanjing Research Institute of Electronics Technology.
Defense

FRANCE kicked off 25-month, €2m ($2.5m) “Dominno” study to improve military helicopter engine maintenance through the use of “big data.”