The U.S. Air Force wants to test four aircraft platforms from Textron, Embraer and Leonardo-Finmeccanica in an effort to augment the service branch’s fleet of A-10 Warthogs, The Witchita Eagle reported Wednesday. Jerry Siebenmark writes the Air Force Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation office looks to conduct a 135-day test of Textron’s Scorpion jet and AT-6 Wolverine as […] More

Orbital ATK has transported the first two next-generation Iridium satellites to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as part of preparations for the scheduled liftoff on Sept. 19, Spaceflight Now reported Wednesday. Stephen Clark writes the satellites were shipped via truck from an Orbital ATK-run manufacturing facility near Phoenix to Vandenberg, where eight additional message transmission […] More

Leonardo-Finmeccanica has introduced a dual role model of the M-346 trainer, developed by the Italian conglomerate’s subsidiary Alenia Aermacchi, and expects the new aircraft to enter service in 2018, Defense News reported Sunday. Tom Kington writes the M-346FT trainer is designed to shift between pilot training application and combat operations. The aircraft incorporates a new tactical datalink and five hard points […] More

Iridium Communications will launch the first line of its NEXT satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base on September 12. The company said Tuesday Thales Alenia Space and Orbital ATK have completed assembly, integration and testing of the 81 satellites on the assembly line, which includes 66 operational satellites to replace the current Iridium network. “After more than seven […] More

An Esterline subsdiairy has been chosen to supply a suite of avionics systems for the C-27J Spartan platform a General Dynamics-led team aims to offer to Canada’s Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue program. Team Spartan comprises General Dynamics’ mission systems business, DRS Technologies and Leonardo-Finmeccanica‘s aircraft division, Esterline said Wednesday. The consortium seeks to integrate Esterline CMC Electronics‘ CMA-9000 Flight Management System, TacView Portable […] More

Iridium Communications remains on schedule to launch the first 10 satellites of the Iridium NEXT constellation in July aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Space News reported Friday. Peter de Selding writes the initial launch date may change by a few weeks based on SpaceX’s availability and will be followed by six sets of 10 satellites that are expected to […] More

A team led by a joint venture of Thales Group and Finmeccanica has received approximately $19.2 million in funds from the French government to conduct research and development work over two years on an autonomous airship. Thales Alenia Space will collaborate with French companies CNIM, Solutions F, Airstar Aerospace and Tronico-Alcen on the structure, electric propulsion system […] More

Airbus has selected Flatirons Solutions to provide software for work to produce and maintain the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft for Denmark. Flatirons’ CORENA software will be incorporated into the Danish Fighter Replacement Program to fulfill the requirements for full content lifecycle management, Flatiron said Thursday. Geoffrey Godet, Flatirons CEO, said the company will extend its partnership with Airbus […] More

A consortium of BAE Systems, Airbus’ defense and space business and Finmeccanica’s Alenia Aermacchi subsidiary has won a contract to provide 28 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft to Kuwait. The contract award to Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug comes after Kuwait signed an aircraft procurement agreement with the government of Italy in September 2015, Eurofighter said Tuesday. The consortium will produce […] More

Iridium Communications has delayed the launch of its 66-satellite Iridium NEXT constellation from April to July after the launch provider notified of delays in obtaining government approvals for the launches, Iridium CEO Matt Desch told investors Thursday. SpaceX will launch 10 Iridium NEXT satellites in December on its Falcon 9 rocket and joint Russian-Ukrainian spaceflight company Kosmotros will subsequently launch two […] More

Raytheon has teamed up with CAE, Finmeccanica and Honeywell to introduce the T-100 training jet as part of their efforts to compete for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X trainer aircraft program. The T-100 aircraft is a variant of the Alenia Aermacchi-built M-346 training jet and comes with a ground-based training platform, Raytheon said Monday. Gene Colabatistto, group president for […] More

An Aerojet Rocketdyne subsidiary has tested a five-kilowatt Hall Thruster in the U.K. with a Thales Alenia Space-built power processing unit. European Space Propulsion will next transfer the production capability of the XR-5 thruster from Aerojet Rocketdyne and develop the XR-5E, Aerojet Rocketdyne said Wednesday. Paul Sinton, managing director of European Space Propulsion, said the […] More