During this short U.S. work week before the Thanksgiving holiday, Washington continues to buzz with post-election news and rumors as President-elect Donald Trump continues to assemble his team, including his recent choice of retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to be his National Security Adviser. Meanwhile, on Tuesday China is expected to launch its fourth Tianlian 1 data relay satellite aboard a Long March 3C from Xichang.
The Canadian government is beginning negotiations with Boeing for 18 “interim” F/A-18 Super Hornets to bridge a widening airpower gap until a new fighter can be competitively selected to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) remaining 1980s-vintage CF-18s.
Switzerland’s defense ministry hopes to extend the life of the country’s F/A-18 Hornets and keep its F-5 Tigers in service longer until a replacement for both aircraft is fully introduced by 2030.
Facebook is preparing to fly its Aquila stratospheric unmanned aircraft for a second time as the NTSB investigates the structural failure that occurred when the aircraft encountered turbulence just before landing on its June 28 first flight.
The Swedish defense ministry has reintroduced the ground-launched version of Saab’s RBS-15 anti-ship missile because of Russia’s increased activity in the Baltic Sea.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) still considers the defense of Europe against Russia important, and has issued a warning about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent reciprocal olive branch to President-elect Donald Trump. “We should place as much faith in such statements as any other made by a former KGB agent who has plunged his country into tyranny, murdered his political opponents, invaded his neighbors, threatened America’s allies, and attempted to undermine America’s elections,” McCain says.
Operators are finding that Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II is fundamentally changing the way the U.S. Marine Corps thinks about operating from amphibious assault ships.
Lockheed Martin has snagged a $1.2 billion contract to upgrade 134 F-16 fighters for the Republic of Korea Air Force to the advanced F-16V configuration equipped with Northrop Grumman’s advanced electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. For a complete list of Aviation Week Network’s upcoming events, and to register, visit www.aviationweek.com/events (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Jan 9-13, 2017—AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference, Gaylord, Texas. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/research/
Orbital ATK’s sixth NASA-contracted Cygnus resupply mission spacecraft departed the International Space Station early Nov. 21 to carry out a set of post-ISS objectives over the next six days.
Astronomer and former NASA Ames Research Center Director Pete Warden is floating a proposed commercially and internationally backed near-term human flyby of Venus and Mars.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden gave his agency high marks Nov. 19 as he watched from Mission Control Moscow as friend and fellow astronaut Peggy Whitson reached the International Space Station
EUROCONSULT estimates global maritime satcom market reached $953m in revenue at the satellite operator level and $1.7b at service provider level in 2015.
Thanks to the Nov. 17 launch by an Ariane 5 rocket of four Galileo satellites, the European space industry has further built confidence in its ability to progress toward more autonomy, despite glitches onboard previously launched Galileo spacecraft.
