Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

France’s 2018 government finance bill details the aeronautical equipment that the French Air Force, Navy and Army will receive and order as part of their ongoing fleet and weapons renewal.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries, with the blessing of the Japanese government, has begun promoting its C-2 long-range cargo aircraft to the U.S. military.

Bell Helicopter has completed assembly of the first Japanese Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey and passed it along to the U.S. government for final modification and delivery.

Japan will fly a testbed reusable sounding rocket in the fiscal year beginning in April 2018, aiming to demonstrate vertical landings and 24-hr. turnarounds—capabilities that could later be applied to the first stage of a space launcher.

India’s landmark Mars orbiter, Mangalyaan, has completed three years in orbit around the Red Planet and is still in good health.

The evaluation will look at how to tie together disaggregated sensors in ways that were not possible in 1991 when J-Stars was first fielded.

Lockheed Martin is ramping up development of hypersonic system technology as observers report the first sightings of a demonstrator vehicle believed to be linked to the Skunk Works’ planned SR-72 high-speed aircraft project.

LOCKHEED MARTIN has $60m U.S. Navy contract to identify/execute projects to reduce F-35 costs; 28.9m or non-recurring special tooling and special test equipment to meet F-35 production rates; $11.8m for F-35 Lightning II low-rate initial production Lot 11 procurement of diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortages management support.

An Italian Air Force test pilot was killed Sept. 24 in the crash of a Eurofighter Typhoon at an air display.

The Trump administration plans to restrict Russian surveillance flights over certain regions of the U.S. in response to alleged violations of the Open Skies Treaty by Moscow.

Arianespace has placed an order for 10 Italian-made Vega launchers, while receiving an order to launch Italian satellites.

The Aug. 21 total solar eclipse, viewable along a narrow swath of the U.S. from Oregon to South Carolina, was a hit with Americans—a big one.

The U.S.’s top general has expressed support for the procurement of additional Boeing-built Ground-Based Interceptors in response to North Korea’s ballistic missile program and other threats.

The U.S. Air Force general in charge of Northern Command says she is concerned about North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s intent to follow through with threats of attacking the homeland.

The July failure of China’s heaviest space launcher has pushed back the country’s next lunar mission by a year.

The UK’s defense minister has warned Boeing that its defense relationship with the British government could be jeopardized if it continues to pursue penalties against Canada’s Bombardier.

The Peruvian Air Force is set to decide on its replacement heavy airlifter in the next two months, senior officials say.

The U.S. Air Force is interested in looking more closely at the potential of Textron’s Scorpion aircraft as a low-cost alternative to current ISR capabilities.

If the Comac ARJ21 was a genuinely commercial program, the manufacturer would by now be saying it had done its best but, as everyone had always known, developing a jet airliner without experience was tough.

The potential for directed-energy weapons to counter the threat posed by small unmanned aircraft systems is to be assessed by the U.S. Air Force in an experimental demonstration.

This week the 68th International Astronautical Congress is underway in Adelaide, Australia, bringing together the leadership of the world’s major space powers.

Sierra Nevada Corp., Folsom, California, is being awarded a $205,000,000 maximum value sole-source five-year indefinite-quantity/indefinite-delivery contract to support U.S. Special Operations Command’s Dismounted Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare systems. U.S. Special Operations Command contracting office, Tampa, Florida (H92222-17-D-0023).

RUSSIA launched Glonass-M navigation satellite Sept. 22 aboard Soyuz-2.1b from Plesetsk cosmodrome.

The U.S. Air Force is moving forward with preparations to take two off-the-shelf light attack turboprop aircraft downrange to fight terrorists next year.

Significant progress has been made in the development of Vega C and Ariane 6, the light and medium/heavy launchers Arianespace is planning on operating from 2019 and 2020, respectively.