Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Tony Osborne
Hensoldt, which was spun off from Airbus earlier this year, signed a share purchase agreement with private equity firm ECI Partners, which owns Enfield-based Kelvin Hughes, the two companies announced June 29.
Defense

By Jen DiMascio
Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne said the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) high-tech surveillance AP-3C Orion aircraft will operate over the southern region of Mindanao to fight Islamist militants...
Defense

But unless Republicans and Democrats reach a wider budget deal that raises sequestration caps on government spending, the Air Force may not get the money it needs to continue flying all nine Warthog squadrons.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The addition of Germany and Norway brings the total number of countries in involved in the MMF program to four, including the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Belgium has expressed a wish to join the program in early 2018.
Defense

A newtarget drone designed for the U.S. Navy to replicate the flight patterns and countermeasures of enemy anti-ship cruise missiles and aircraft has moved into low-rate initial production.
Defense

House defense authorizers highlighted a spate of hypoxia-like cockpit incidents in U.S. Navy aircraft during a markup of the defense policy bill, with one lawmaker slamming the service for its “insufficient” response to the problem.
Defense

By Michael Bruno
The new venture – Space Infrastructure Services (SIS) – will commercialize “sophisticated” satellite servicing capabilities, including refueling.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
The pressurized Perlan 2 is designed to reach 90,000 ft., but chief pilot Jim Payne is hoping to reach 60,000-65,000 ft. this year, enough to beat the record of 50,727 ft. set by Perlan 1 in 2006.

The House’s version of the defense policy bill, if passed, would authorize the Pentagon to take the next step toward an international F-35 “block buy” valued at as much as $40 billion.
Defense

AIRBUS delivered final H145M helicopter to the German Air Force on June 26.

With members of Congress trying to cram in work before the July 4th holiday, this week will be packed with markups of defense legislation.

Boecore Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $93,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for shared early warning system (SEWS) support.

The big winners in the bill are combat aircraft and helicopter manufacturers.
Defense

Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, principal deputy director of the Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office, says after almost 60 years of laser development, high-power laser technology is finally on the cusp of delivering battlefield utility.
Defense

By Guy Norris
The CST-100, along with SpaceX’s crewed Dragon, is one of two space capsules in development under NASA Commercial Crew contracts to fly U.S. astronauts to the ISS...
Defense

By Mark Carreau
The Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA), a power generator with an experimental deployment mechanism launched to the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this month, was jettisoned earlier this week after it failed to retract.
Defense

The House Appropriations defense subcommittee has approved legislation that would boost weapons procurement by $18.6 billion above President Trump’s budget request, adding aircraft across the armed services.
Defense

By Thierry Dubois
The factory in Toulouse already has produced two “qualification satellites” for ground-testing purposes. Production of 10 “pilot satellites” has now started.
Defense

By Graham Warwick
Able to detect, track, identify and defeat small unmanned aircraft, AUDS will be used to protect critical assets and personnel. The contract is estimated to be worth about €2 million ($2.3 million).
Defense

By Jay Menon
A senior scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization says the 1,000 Earth days correspond to 973.24 Mars Sols.
Defense

Images released by the company show a rail-mounted laser weapon capped by the company’s electro-optical infrared Multi-Spectral Targeting System, typically carried by the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper.
Defense

Senior staffers for the committee confirm that the proposal by the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee to create a Space Force has been carried forward to be voted on.
Defense

THALES and RELIANCE DEFENSE formed joint venture to develop Indian capabilities to integrate and maintain Radar and Electronic Warfare sensors. AIRBUS has French Gendarmerie order for an additional EC145; delivery in 2018. THALES unveiled Ground Fire family of multifunction ground radars June 19 at Paris.

Safran Helicopter Engines has received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification for its Ardiden 3G helicopter engine, which powers Russian Helicopters’ Ka-62 medium twin. The helicopter hovered in 2016, but the test campaign was interrupted until the “official maiden flight” on May 25, 2017. During its maturation and certification ground trials, the Ardiden 3 has accumulated more than 8,500 test hours.

By Jen DiMascio
The back-to-back missions come as SpaceX tries to catch up to its already-packed manifest.