Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Robert Wall
The German government has signed an agreement with industry to modernize its MBDA Taurus cruise missile, with the aim of keeping the system viable long term.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Tony Osborne
The UK is ratcheting up efforts to sell Eurofighters to Turkey with a visit of two Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft to Ankara.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Robert Wall
The UK and partners are including more counter-uncrewed air systems (C-UAS) and loitering munitions in a new £225 million ($284 million) package for Ukraine.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Robert Wall
The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed €350 million ($363 million) in contracts with Avio to further evolve the Vega launcher family.
Launch Vehicles & Propulsion

By Chen Chuanren
The Royal Australian Air Force has now received all 72 of its ordered Lockheed Martin F-35As that it started taking delivery of in December 2018.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Thierry Dubois
Stephane Israel is stepping down as Arianespace CEO and member of ArianeGroup's executive committee on Dec. 31, to be succeeded by David Cavailloles.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
LQMs are sophisticated machine-learning models that are trained on vast amounts of data generated using physics-based methods.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Steve Trimble
The contract for the Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) Recapitalization program calls for Northrop to deliver the first three engineering and manufacturing aircraft.
Multi-Mission Aircraft

By Vivienne Machi
The seventh and eighth O3b mPOWER satellites were launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:26 p.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
Satellites

By Irene Klotz
Nelson, who was appointed by President Joe Biden to head NASA in 2021, will be leaving the agency on Jan. 20.
Budget, Policy & Regulation

By Irene Klotz
The funding cut will mean that NASA will have to reallocate $180 million from its current space operations budget.
Budget, Policy & Regulation

By Brian Everstine
The Senate passed the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act by a vote of 85-14.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Robert Wall
In total, legislators approved 38 projects with a combined value of about €21 billion ($26.7 billion).
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Guy Norris
The Venus Detonation Rocket propulsion system combines a rotating detonation rocket engine with a ramjet.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Tony Osborne
The FMV says the first step is an order placed with the Swedish Space Corporation.
Satellites

By Mark Carreau
The fixed-price contract listed a maximum value of $140 million over a five-year base period with an additional two-year option.
Space Exploration

By Robert Wall
The pace of growth is down slightly from the 11% seen between 2022 and 2023.
Budget, Policy & Regulation

By Guy Norris
The 777-200ER was acquired in 2022 to replace a long-serving DC-8-72, which was retired in May after nearly 40 years with NASA.
Space Exploration

By Robert Wall
Member states are expected to provide €4.8 billion and the European Union €1.7 billion, with an additional €1.2 billion coming from other sources.
Budget, Policy & Regulation

By Tony Osborne
The new company, Pulse, will be headquartered in Abu Dhabi.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Tony Osborne
DLR is gearing up for flight trials of an AESA radar for German and Spanish Eurofighter combat fleets using a modified Airbus A320 testbed.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Steve Trimble
The annual China Military Power Report estimates China’s nuclear arsenal totaled about 600 warheads at the end of last year, a gain of 100 compared to the end of 2022.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Chen Chuanren
Chinese astronauts Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong have completed extensive extravehicular activities on the Tiangong space station lasting 9 hr. 6 min.
Operations & Safety

By Robert Wall
Ispace says it is targeting another attempt to touch down a lunar lander on the Moon’s surface around four to five months after launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9.
Space Exploration

By Irene Klotz
The FAA cleared SpaceX to conduct a series of Starship-Super Heavy flight tests from Boca Chica Beach, Texas.
Launch Vehicles & Propulsion