Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The crew set a duration record for Chinese human spaceflight.
Defense

The State Department has approved the long-awaited proposed sales of Boeing F-15s and F/A-18s to two Persian Gulf states.
Defense

the Pentagon is hosting a “Hard Kill Challenge” for industry and government entities to demonstrate novel approaches for swatting small UAVs.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
Malaysia has no plans to economize by buying Chinese combat aircraft, despite a budget squeeze that is forcing the Southeast Asian nation to defer equipment purchases.
Defense

NEW ZEALAND unveiled NZ$20b ($14b) Defense Capability Plan 2016, including replacing Anzac frigates and new transport aircraft to replace C-130 and B757 fleets.

The global C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) market will rise at a compound annual growth rate of 3.78% by 2020.

The House Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), has cautioned the incoming Donald Trump administration against raising the defense budget much beyond current levels.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
A trio of U.S., Russian and European astronauts launched to the International Space Station Nov. 17 for what promises to be a demanding six months aboard the orbiting science lab.
Defense

Columbia, Maryland-based Applied Defense Systems will develop cloud-based software for automated orbit analysis, maneuver planning and collision avoidance for OneWeb.
Defense

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas , who tops President-Elect Donald Trump’s short list to lead the Defense Department, is urging the U.S. Air Force to retire the aging B-52 bomber and instead buy enough copies of Northrop Grumman’s next-generation B-21.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The deployment will take place shortly after the U.K. declares its initial operational capability (IOC) for maritime operations from the ship, which is currently scheduled for the end of 2020.
Defense

By Mark Carreau
If the Trump administration endorses the move, this “space situational awareness” function long filled by the U.S. Air Force could be taken over by the FAA in 5-6 years, the agency says.
Defense

Lockheed Martin could soon begin ramping up production of the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile in Troy, Alabama.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
Britain’s Royal Air Force is planning to create an eighth front-line Eurofighter Typhoon squadron in the early 2020s.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The U.S. State Department has approved the Foreign Military Sale of up to 26 Certifiable Predator B UAVs for the UK’s Protector program.
Defense

By Bradley Perrett
A New Zealand program to replace six Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion maritime patrollers should be completed by 2026, according to an acquisition plan published on Nov. 16.
Defense

By Jay Menon
India’s Rustom-II UAV successfully completed its first flight on Nov. 16, “meeting all expectations,” a defense ministry official says.
Defense

By Tony Osborne
The U.S. Air Force is looking to introduce more automation into its UAV operations to deal with growing manpower challenges.
Defense

By Molly McMillin
Embraer has begun negotiations with its metalworkers union for a temporary employment suspension affecting up to 2,000 workers in Brazil.
Defense

LEONARDO-FINMECCANICA’s multi-mission C-27J Spartan began tour to demonstrate its capabilities to a number of Latin American countries. The aircraft will travel the length of the continent from Panama to La Paz, Buenos Aires and on to Argentina’s Antarctic Air Base of Marambio. L-3 COMMUNICATIONS has $208m Australian Defense Force (ADF) contract under the LAND 53 Phase 1BR program, to deliver soldier modernization technology.

The global mobile satellite services market should expand at a compound annual growth rate of 7.83% by 2020, Technavio forecasts. Increasing demand for satcom in emergency situations and real-time location data using so-called Internet of Things technology are major market drivers. But the sector faces challenges including congestion of frequency bands.

SpaceX envisions building a massive constellation of 4,425 small spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) over the next decade to provide satellite-internet with “full and continuous global coverage,” according to the company’s application for FCC approval.
Defense

Naval Air Systems Command’s Precision-Strike Weapons office is making preparations to more than double the range of the Boeing AGM-84 Harpoon and Raytheon AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon.
Defense

View the Fleet Snapshot: Worldwide Boeing AH-64 Apache Fleets chart in PDF format.

By Graham Warwick
Facebook says the test demonstrated a record data rate of almost 20 Gbps over 13 km (8 mi.), enough to stream almost 1,000 high-definition videos simultaneously.