Australia has increased its planned force of Boeing P-8 Poseidons from eight to 15 as a part of a policy of bolstering its maritime power that also includes a commitment to 12 submarines, a figure that was previously in doubt.
Australia will prepare for a capability in missile defense by upgrading surveillance and command systems as a basis for the possible acquisition of interceptor systems.
With its definition of small UAVs covering weights up to a fairly hefty 55 lb., and under pressure to treat lighter or “micro” UAVs differently, the FAA has chartered an aviation rulemaking committee (ARC) to recommend how such vehicles should be regulated.
Delays in development of Safran’s Silvercrest engine cost the company a one-time €654 million ($720 million) charge last year, helping drive operating profit for 2015 down more than 12% to €1.7 billion.
LOCKHEED MARTIN has $45.5m U.S. Air Force contract for support to increase F-22 flight hours. Work to be performed at Fort Worth, complete by Dec. 31, 2016. GENERAL DYNAMICS’ AN/PRC-155 MUOS-Manpack Radio and MUOS Communications Network Connect were validated by U.S. Army for use in Pacific theater. LOCKHEED MARTIN has contract for two new TPS-77 radars for Romania.
The U.S. Air Force is accounting for part of known delays and cost overruns for its GPS III next-generation operational control segment, known as OCX. In its fiscal 2017 budget request, the service has requested $393 million, an increase of $171 million. Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall next month will make his “quarterly deep dive” of the program, after which it will be formally rebaselined and the budget for fiscal years beyond 2017 will be worked out, according to Maj. Gen. Roger Teague, the director of Air Force space program acquisitions.
Italian air accident investigators have successfully extracted data from the combined flight data and cockpit voice recorder recovered from the wreckage of the second prototype AgustaWestland AW609 commercial tiltrotor.
An investigative team using social media and open-source intelligence has identified Russian military personnel potentially connected with the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014.
Airbus Defense and Space is hoping to deliver more than 20 A400M airlifters this year, but significant risks remain in the delivery of both the aircraft and its military capabilities.
Completion of a joint venture between the launch vehicle divisions of Airbus Defense and Space and Safran S.A. is being held up by regulatory approvals that, if delayed beyond April, could threaten the entry into service of Europe’s next-generation Ariane 6.
Australia will stick to its policy of raising military spending to 2% of gross domestic product (GPD) by fiscal 2023-24 in a defense white paper the government is due to issue on Feb. 25, local media report.
With the U.S. Navy including $13.2 billion across the future years’ defense plan for the first of the Ohio-class strategic submarine replacement force, lawmakers are starting to talk more about the nation’s nuclear deterrence force recapitalization needs.
Record numbers of U.S. men and women — just more than 18,300 — would like to pursue careers as NASA astronauts, according to a tally of applicants who made the Feb. 18 deadline to seek perhaps eight to 14 openings early next year.
Engineers at this NASA field center are developing an operational laser communications concept that would combine radio frequency (RF) and optical communications in a single lightweight unit to deliver streaming video from Mars by the late 2020s.
French defense electronics giant Thales Group achieved a record order intake of €18.9 billion ($20.8 billion) last year and solid growth with turnover of €14.1 billion, boosted in part by several large defense and space contracts signed in 2015.
When research organization Battelle unveiled its DroneDefender counter to small UAVs at the Association of the U.S. Army show in Washington last October, the Internet went wild.
India has successfully tested its first indigenously developed and most powerful cryogenic rocket engine, moving a step closer to launching heavier satellites into orbit.
