Textron and a team of Sierra Nevada Corp. and Embraer have brought their respective light-attack aircraft to the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico to prepare for the U.S. Air Force‘s OA-X experiment that will start on July 31, Defense News reported Wednesday. OA-X will help the Air Force decide whether to pursue a program of […] More

Charles Litz, a retired U.S. Navy captain and former program manager at Advanced Technology Systems Company, has joined management and technology consulting firm ARServices as director of research and development operations. ARServices said Tuesday Litz will lead the company’s efforts to grow its federal market footprint and oversee business relationships with government customers such as the Defense Threat […] More

Sweden would consider buying the trainer aircraft from a team composed of Boeing and Saab to replace its aging fleet of trainer jets if both companies land the T-X contract with the U.S. Air Force, Defense News reported Monday. Col. Magnus Liljegren, head of Sweden’s air force department, told reporters during a Monday briefing in Stockholm that […] More

Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK’s space systems group, has said the company expects NASA to decide soon on whether to use its Antares vehicle or the United Launch Alliance-built Atlas V rocket in Cygnus spacecraft’s future cargo missions as part of the Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract, Space News reported Tuesday. Jeff Foust writes Culbertson […] More

Lockheed Martin has conducted the first flight test of a second trainer aircraft that the company plans to offer in the U.S. Air Force‘s T-X trainer competition. The company said Monday the demonstration of its second production-ready T-50A  aircraft occurred in Greenville, South Carolina, where Lockheed’s final assembly and checkout facility is located. T-50A is designed to train pilots of F-22 […] More

Gen. David Goldfein, chief of staff at the U.S. Air Force, has said that he expected a shakeout in the military service’s $16 billion T-X trainer competition launched in late 2016 given the branch’s strategy to procure a new jet fighter training system, National Defense Magazine reported Tuesday. According to the story by Yasmin Tadjdeh, Goldfein told reporters during a meeting in […] More

Matt Simon, habitation lead for NASA’s Evolvable Mars Campaign, has said the agency  wants a similar structure for future deep space modules that will serve as transit and surface habitats for Mars and moon explorations, Ars Technica reported Wednesday. Eric Berger writes Simon told the publication deep space habitats from the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnership […] More

AT&T has won an $11.3 million firm-fixed-price contract from the U.S. Navy to design and build five land mobile radio communication towers throughout the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California. The company’s government solutions business unit will construct 70- to 150-foot-high towers that can operate as standalone facilities in remote areas within the Sierra Nevada […] More

A team comprised of NanoRacks, Space Systems Loral and United Launch Alliance will study the feasibility of converting rocket upper stages into habitats for low-Earth orbit and deep-space missions under a contract awarded by NASA. The Ixion Initiative Team aims to help NASA address risks associated with modules that are built on the ground and launched into orbit through the agency’s Next Space […] More

A new Visiongain report forecasts the global military aircraft maintenance, repair and operations market will hit $49 billion in value in 2015. Visiongain said Friday the increasing adoption of new fighter aircraft among tier-one market players would spur growth in the industry. The 2015-2025 forecast covers maintenance aspects in operations and field, heavy airframe, heavy engine, […] More

Lockheed Martin is developing a new spaceflight system consisting of the Jupiter space tug and Exoliner disposable supply module that the company hopes will support future cargo missions beyond low Earth orbit, Space.com reported Thursday. Mike Wall writes that Lockheed presented a concept video of the new system to show how it could be used for NASA missions to the International […] More

At least five companies have submitted bids to NASA to deliver supplies to the International Space Station through a second round of commercial resupply services competition, the Washington Post reported Monday. Christian Davenport writes NASA’s decision to partner with industry for ISS cargo resupply missions has drawn interest from bigger contractors and encouraged investor-backed startup […] More