Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

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.) Sept. 13-16—AIAA Space and Astronautics Forum and Exposition (SPACE 2016), Long Beach, California. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/research/

The U.S. Air Force has put Raytheon Missile Systems on contract for its second batch of 250 GBU-53B Small Diameter Bomb IIs.

First flight of a new Blue Origin human-rated orbital launch vehicle is due from the Seattle-based company’s new launch facility at Cape Canaveral by the end of the decade.

NASA has awarded contracts to four companies to develop system requirements for planned ultra-efficient subsonic transport demonstrators.

MOSCOW—The Belarus Academy of Science displayed the armed version of its Burevestnik-MB unmanned aerial vehicle at the Army 2016 defense forum here.

Darpa Deputy Director Steven Walker says the U.S. should “stick with the current plan” for hypersonic missile development, with flight tests planned for 2019.

Indonesia is retrofitting and upgrading five aging Lockheed Martin C-130B Hercules transport aircraft that have been in service since the 1960s.

Aero engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce has appointed a new chief operating officer following a shakeup of senior management announced last December.

Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer Antonov says it plans to fly the first prototype of the An-132D light airlifter before year’s end.

Thales and satellite operator SES have signed two intertwined agreements to offer a new connectivity service over the Americas, claiming “optic fiber-like” speed.

ARIANESPACE has European Space Agency contract to launch ADM-Aeolus satellite.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. James Holmes has been nominated as the next chief of Air Combat Command.

View the Forecast Friday: Maritime Aircraft MRO Demand by OEM: 2016-2025 ($) chart in PDF format.

U.S. Air Force Space Command is exploring how to defend its current space assets and make new ones more responsive, operationally focused, disaggregated and survivable.

The U.S. Air Force is about 500 fighter pilots short of its total requirement.

Blue Origin will test an escape system next month on its New Shepard rocket that can propel the crew capsule to safety if the booster has a problem, the company says.

A curious device designed to guide U.S. air-to-ground munitions when satellite navigation aides are being disrupted will soon enter flight testing on the Boeing GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb.

India-based Tata Advanced Materials Ltd (TAML) has been contracted by Boeing to provide composite interior closeout panels for the P-8 aircraft.

The $1 billion probe's long journey will place it at the 1,600-ft.-wide asteroid Bennu in August 2018.

GENERAL ATOMICS AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS, INC. completed integration of Certifiable Predator B UAV at company’s Poway, CA, production facility.

Sierra Nevada is losing its space systems unit leader to a want-to-be-bigger defense provider.

The U.S. Navy can move ahead with low-rate production of the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton after the $14 billion maritime surveillance UAV program cleared an acquisition hurdle known as Milestone C.

First flight of the spaceplane, named VSS Unity, is expected within days.

Ten months after achieving first flight of the CH-53K, Lockheed Martin-owned Sikorsky has delivered and flown all four aircraft required for developmental test.

Airbus Group and crowdsourced design specialist Local Motors have launched the second phase of a collaboration on cargo-delivery unmanned aircraft systems.