Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

On April 5 the Senate Armed Services Committee met in executive session and favorably reported the nomination of Heather Wilson to be the next Secretary of the U.S. Air Force by a vote of 22-5. The nomination now goes to the floor of the Senate for a full vote. A former Air Force officer, Wilson also served in Congress as a Republican representing New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District from 1998 to 2009.

In an attempt to get ahead of business trends, Lockheed Martin is combining its civil and commercial space lines of business into one unit.

The head of U.S. Transport Command says the planned retirement of 59 Boeing KC-10 Extenders may need to be reconsidered.

Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development is opening a credit line for countries wishing to purchase Brazilian defense equipment.

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is prepared to extend her current stay aboard the International Space Station for another three months.

Boeing's Global Services business unit, announced last November, will be operational in July.

Israel Aerospace Industries has signed a $2 billion missile defense deal with India.

Despite ongoing strikes that have forced Arianespace to suspend launches indefinitely, a ViaSat executive says he is "confident we’ll have ViaSat-2 in service by the end of the year."

Money is one of the key reasons the U.S. needs a new military service dedicated to space, says Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.).

Blue Origin and SpaceX's plans toward full operational reusability are not all that different.

UNITED LAUNCH SERVICES LLC has $146.5m U.S. Air Force contract for launch vehicle production services, including support of an Atlas V 551, 5M Payload Fairing 9-ft. Plug and transportation, through Dec. 12, 2020. LOCKHEED MARTIN has $1.6b U.S. Army contract for the Counter Fire Target Acquisition Radar System full-rate production and deployment through March 29, 2022.

If the thought of a delivery UAV landing in the yard raises safety and noise concerns, Advanced Tactics Inc. has demonstrated an alternative: a small unmanned aircraft that lands and drives up to the door with no propellers turning. The Torrance, California-based company has conducted the first package-delivery test with its Panther Air/Ground Robot. The vehicle landed in an open clearing away from buildings and people, then drove along the sidewalk and up to the test customer’s doorstep. Carrying a 5-lb.

Orbital ATK is stepping out of the shadows with a next-generation rocket booster.

Aurora Flight Sciences has decided to design and build an improved, military-grade version of its Orion long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft.

Hybrid Enterprises, Lockheed Martin’s reseller of its LMH-1 Hybrid Airship, has signed an agreement to transport bulk liquid helium from sites in Africa.

Description : Sikorsky’s S-70 family of medium helicopters includes a series of maritime variants, including several with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilty.

European missile manufacturer MBDA has carried out air carriage and jettison trials of the new Sea Venom anti-ship missile from a Lynx helicopter.

United Launch Alliance has dropped the price of its workhorse Atlas V rocket by about one-third and will continue to drive down costs amid mounting competition from SpaceX.

A single-seat Lockheed Martin F-16C assigned to the U.S.

A multinational team of researchers studying data from NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite believe they have identified two major warnings signs that together trigger destructive space weather events.

India’s state-run space agency has partnered with a local defense equipment maker to develop two spare Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System spacecraft.

Malaysia appears to be finally making serious moves toward fulfilling a long-standing requirement for maritime patrollers.

L3 Technologies has joined the race to provide unmanned underwater technology to the U.S. Navy with the acquisition of OceanServer Technology for an undisclosed amount.

Boeing has created an “innovation cell” to seek out potentially disruptive technologies and business models, both externally and internally.

China’s space organizations are beginning to plan science missions beyond Mars, even as its engineers prepare to return samples from the Moon to Earth this year, and from Mars by 2030.