The first Short Take-Off/Vertical Landing version of the F-35, or F-35B, was rolled out Friday in Cameri, Italy at the Final Assembly & Check-Out (FACO) facility. The jet is expected to take its first flight in late August and will be delivered to the Italian Ministry of Defense in November.  The next Italian F-35B aircraft […] More

Honeywell has received certifications from various aviation agencies to provide its satellite communications system and health and usage monitoring platform for a range of helicopters. The company said it obtained supplemental type certificates from U.S., European and Brazilian respective aviation agencies to offer the Honeywell Health and Usage Monitoring Systems and Vibration Expert products for helicopters […] More

Boeing has unveiled its MH-139 helicopter as its entry in a U.S. Air Force program that seeks to replace the service branch’s UH-1N Huey fleet. MH-139 is based on Leonardo‘s AW139 multi-mission helicopters that currently serve more than 250 government, military and industry customers worldwide, Boeing said Thursday. David Koopersmith, Boeing vice president and general manager for vertical lift, said MH-139 […] 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

Poland plans to acquire 16 new helicopters in 2017, including two Sikorsky-made Black Hawk aircraft, to replace the country’s Mil Mi-8, Mi-14 and Mi-17 fleet, Defense News reported Friday. Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said the Black Hawks could be delivered in March and the next 14 helicopters will be chosen among offers from Lockheed Martin, Leonardo and Airbus, Jaroslaw […] 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

Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush has said the company has not reached a decision on whether to submit a proposal for the U.S. Air Force’s $16 billion T-X trainer aircraft program, Defense News reported Thursday. Bush said at a quarterly earnings call Thursday that Northrop is still evaluating the request for proposals and that it is more interested to […] More

A Visiongain report has estimated worldwide revenue for military unmanned aerial vehicles reached $7.4 billion last year. The company’s Military UAV Market Report 2016-2026 report  also covers analyses and forecasts on high-altitude long endurance UAVs, medium-altitude long-endurance drones and three other military UAV submarkets over the next 10 years in eight countries that include the U.S., Australia and Japan, ReportBuyer […] More

A BAE Systems-led consortium of companies has inked an agreement with the U.K.’s defense ministry for the assessment phase of a program to modernize the British army’s main battle tanks. BAE Systems said Thursday it will lead the Team Challenger 2 team which will collaborate with the Ministry of Defence to develop options for system replacement […] More

Thales Alenia Space’s ELiTeBUS 1000 satellite system has been added by the rapid spacecraft development office to the Rapid III catalog managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The satellite platform’s inclusion in the catalog would allow the joint venture of Thales and Leonardo-Finmeccanica to respond to future request for proposals for platforms and services under […] More

A fresh Research and Markets report suggests a growing demand for data in commercial applications will help buoy the global unmanned aerial vehicle market to reach $21.23 billion by 2022 from $5.97 billion in 2016. The report predicts the global drone market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 20 percent from 2016 […] More

A Raytheon official has said the company could perform updates to Germany’s Patriot missile defense system within a year and for less than the estimated budget for the development of the Medium Extended Air Defense System, Reuters reported Friday. Lockheed Martin built the MEADS system with MBDA, Andrea Shalal and Sabine Siebold write. “They refer to us as […] More