AEROJET ROCKETDYNE achieved full-power during pre-burner test series of AR1 engine (RD-180 replacement) at NASA’s Stennis Space Center earlier this month. FINCANTIERI signed €4b ($4.5b) contract with Qatar for construction of four corvettes over 100 meters in length, one amphibious vessel, two patrol vessels, plus 15 years of support. Construction in Italian shipyards to begin in 2018 and last six years.
Elon Musk is getting some competition on the public stage from fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos and his formerly secretive Blue Origin spaceflight company. On June 15, the Amazon founder pre-empted the latest SpaceX launch with a broadcast e-mail on Blue’s progress with the big BE-4 rocket engine. “We’re making multiple copies of the BE-4 to take us through our development campaign, along with a healthy amount of hardware spares to mitigate schedule and technical risks encountered along the way—a ‘hardware rich’ approach to development,” Bezos wrote.
Raytheon says it has developed a formidable weapon for countering UAV swarms based around a high-power magnetron that can emit enough microwave energy to clear an area in the sky the size of a football field with one pulse.
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.)
High-profile investment advisors are beginning to weigh in on which U.S. presidential candidate would be better for the aerospace and defense industries.
Three U.S., U.K. and Russian astronauts departed the International Space Station (ISS) and descended to Earth aboard their Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft early June 18, safely ending a 186-day mission to the orbiting science lab.
The outgoing U.S. Air Force chief of staff has called for a “flying artillery” aircraft to replace the Fairchild Republic A-10 Warthog, as his successor distances himself from any arrangements to retire the aging close air support (CAS) platform “in the near-term.”
The first temporary detachment of U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler airborne electronic attack aircraft arrived at Clark Air Base earlier this month for training with Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) FA-50 aircraft pilots, the Navy says.
Airbus Defense and Space has conducted wind tunnel testing on an extended length refueling hose which the company hopes can solve the A400M’s helicopter refueling woes.
India has eased limits on foreign direct investment (FDI) in defense joint ventures, with the aim of enticing international defense contractors to manufacture equipment in the country.
Surveillance service provider MAG Aerospace has flight tested Logos Technologies’ Redkite wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) system on a Cessna 206 Caravan as a step toward offering the ability to monitor a city-sized area as a turnkey service.
Northrop Grumman plans to build a second Tern ship-based vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) unmanned aircraft under a $17.8 million contract extension from DARPA.
U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers flying from amphibious ship LHD 4 USS Boxer in the Arabian Gulf joined strike aircraft operating from aircraft carrier CVN 75 USS Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean Sea earlier this month, the first naval aviation combat strike missions of Operation Inherent Resolve launched from Navy warships in two different operational theaters, the Navy says.
The U.S. Navy installed a new AN/SPY-6 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) in its Advanced Radar Development Evaluation Laboratory (Ardel) at the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) off Hawaii earlier this month.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (NDAA) passed by the Senate includes language meant “to cut through acquisition red tape and provide more funding flexibility to develop electronic warfare technology,” according to the sponsoring lawmaker.
Gen. David Goldfein, who is set to become the 21st Air Force chief of staff, told lawmakers June 16 that he expects Milestone A decisions from the Pentagon in the coming months for the new ICBM and cruise missile.
