Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The role of monitoring the Earth’s climate should remain the domain of NASA, the president of the Aerospace Industries Association says, rather than being moved elsewhere such as the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, as some lawmakers have suggested. “I think it belongs in NASA,” David Melcher says at the trade group’s year-end media event, adding that the agency provides excellent oversight. “I prefer it stay there rather than try to park it in a new place.”

The U.S. Air Force has picked Orbital ATK's Minotaur I to launch a lightweight National Reconnaissance Office satellite.

GENERAL ATOMICS AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS, INC. announced flight testing for MQ-1C Gray Eagle Extended Range (ER) series began Oct. 29.

Pioneering astronaut and former U.S. Sen. John Glenn died Dec. 8 at Ohio State University’s James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

President-elect Donald Trump has added six more members to his NASA transition team, including the former manager of the agency’s Ares launcher development program that was scuttled by the Obama administration.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Ageny's sixth resupply mission to the International Space Station, HTV-6, lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center on Dec. 9.

The Philippines has commissioned two more Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) FA-50 light attack aircraft into service, increasing the fleet to four.

Darpa wants to give small combat units the means to manage swarms of robots.

Former Indian air force chief S.P. Tyagi has been arrested on charges of alleged corruption in the AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters deal.

U.S. AIR FORCE announced five candidate bases for next two Air National Guard F-35A locations.

Jim McNerney, former Boeing chairman, CEO and president, will help advise President-elect Donald Trump as part of the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum.

View the Fleet Snapshot: UK Royal Air Force Piloted Aircraft chart in PDF format.

Airbus’ C295W offering has triumphed in Canada over the Leonardo C-27J and Embraer KC-390.

Airbus Helicopters has begun flight testing the first of 18 naval NH90 Sealion helicopters planned for Germany’s air arm.

Satellite operator Inmarsat has switched the launch of the Inmarsat S-band/Hellas-Sat 3 telecommunications spacecraft to Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket, as a result of delays in the launch schedule of original launch provider SpaceX.

Mars One, which proposes to become the first publicly traded venture to colonize the Red Planet, has delayed its proposed human settlement timetable.

Japan’s proposed indigenous fighter would be larger than the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and is designed around the carriage of missiles the size of the MBDA Meteor.

The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale of AH-64E Apaches to the United Arab Emirates and CH-47F Chinooks to Saudi Arabia.

U.S., Canadian and Australian military forces will gain additional satellite communications bandwidth with the Dec. 7 launch of an upgraded Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) spacecraft from Cape Canaveral on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV.

The Russian armed forces have rearmed one brigade with the newest modification of the Buk medium surface-to-air missiles.

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT approved $156m foreign military sale to Finland of F/A-18 Mid-Life Upgrade Program and related support, equipment, and training.

FLIR Systems has acquired Oslo-based nano-class military UAV maker Prox Dynamics for about $134 million in cash.

View the U.S. Aerospace & Defense Industry Employment in PDF format.

A spending bill for early 2017 answers some of the Obama administration’s top procurement wishes—including allowing full production of aerial refueling tankers.

Small, agile and responsive, Houston Precision Fasteners (HPF) is one of an estimated 1,200 small businesses scattered across the U.S. that play limited yet significant roles in the development of NASA’s Space Launch System exploration rocket and its primary future payload, the Orion crew capsule.