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Texas is offering more than $15 million in incentives to bring SpaceX's commercial rocket launch facility and 300 jobs to the Brownsville area. Gov. Rick Perry announced the incentive package Monday for the project that is expected to bring $85 million in capital investment to the state. "Texas has been on the forefront of our nation's space exploration efforts for decades so it is fitting that SpaceX has chosen our state as they expand the frontiers of commercial space flight," Perry said in a statement. "In addition to growing the aerospace industry in Texas, SpaceX's facility will provide myriad opportunities...

Matthew Munson, age 34, of Henley-on-Thames, England, is an affable, unpretentious and ridiculously wealthy Brit. By his own admission he is captive to some impulsive spending habits, particularly when the spending involves mechanical things — planes, trains, helicopters, automobiles and the like, but no boats. His wife Helen is familiar with her husband’s financial proclivities. As she puts it, she’s “a bit used to him doing these sorts of things,” such as buying a $250,000 Ferrari to add to his Ferrari collection (he owns 12) without asking her first. “I didn’t realize I hadn’t told her,” Mr. Munson says, laughing....

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — U.S. defense contractors sense that there’s money to be made out of Japan’s decision to expand the role of its military amid Chinese aggression in the East China Sea. Aerospace companies Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin held a joint news conference Thursday in Tokyo touting RQ-4 Global Hawk and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye surveillance planes as potential additions to the Japanese Air Self Defense Force. A national security strategy, approved by Japan’s cabinet in December, calls for better air and maritime surveillance. Last month, the ruling coalition adopted a resolution that will allow the nation’s armed...

BEIJING -- China has acknowledged the existence of a new intercontinental ballistic missile said to be capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads as far as the United States, state-run media reported Friday. A government environmental monitoring center in Shaanxi said on its website that a military facility in the province was developing Dongfeng-41 (DF-41) missiles, the Global Times reported. The DF-41 is designed to have a range of 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles), according to a report by Jane's Strategic Weapon Systems, putting it among the world's longest-range missiles. It is “possibly capable of carrying multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles,” the...

Boeing will build the 787-10 Dreamliner exclusively in North Charleston, the Chicago-based aerospace giant announced Wednesday. The 787-10 is the largest of the Dreamliner family and the announcement of its construction at the North Charleston site has been expected for months. Design of the 787-10 is underway in Everett, with final assembly of the first 787-10 scheduled to begin in South Carolina in 2017. "We looked at all our options and found the most efficient and effective solution is to build the 787-10 at Boeing South Carolina," said Larry Loftis, vice president and general manager, 787 program, Boeing Commercial Airplanes....

Ilyushin has delivered the first upgraded Il-38N anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft to the Russian navy following a modernisation effort that began in 2012. Handed over on 15 July, the turboprop-powered type is the first of five examples to receive the enhancements under a Rb3.5 billion ($100 million) contract. Ilyushin The upgrades focus on the addition of a new Novella P-38 target track and search system developed by St Petersburg-based Leninets, giving the 1960s-era aircraft what the manufacturer calls “a second life”. The P-38 broadens the area a single Il-38N can cover, while allowing it to track 32 targets simultaneously. Ilyushin...

The air force of neutral Sweden may not be one of the big-hitters in terms of global power projection. Indeed, it has barely even undertaken combat operations. When Swedish jets went into action over Libya in 2011, during Operation Unified Protector, the government only allowed them to fly reconnaissance missions. The previous time Swedish fighters deployed in combat was almost 50 years earlier, during the Congo crisis. However, Sweden always has taken its air defense very seriously—and has a proven track record of developing innovative, often indigenous solutions to meet its air-power needs. Now, the Swedish air force is about...

Lockheed Martin (LM) and BAE Systems reported progress this month on their rival upgrades for F-16 Fighting Falcons. Two aircraft from each company’s launch customer (Taiwan for LM, South Korea for BAE) are now in rework, ironically just a few miles from each other in Fort Worth, Texas. Meanwhile, the ferry of Iraq’s first two new Block 52 aircraft in September is looking unlikely. Bill McHenry, LM’s F-16 program director, said that the F-16V upgrade design review is complete, Elbit has delivered some of the new cockpit displays, and Northrop Grumman is slated to deliver the first scaleable agile beam...

We sat at the end of the runway, our F-14's GE-110 motors humming, awaiting our clearance to begin what would be the last F-14 Demonstration ever. The Air Boss's voice crackled over the radio: "Tomcat Demo, you're cleared to five miles and 15k feet. The air show box is yours" At that very moment, I distinctly remember what my Commanding Officer told us before the show: "Fellas, make it a memorable one… just not too memorable!" LCDR Joe "Smokin" Ruzicka was the Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) to fly the last F-14 Demonstration before the Tomcat's final demise in 2006. Commander...

MBDA was showcasing its SPEAR 3 missile at the Farnborough International Air Show 2014. SPEAR is MBDA’s response to a component of the UK’s Selective Precision Effects At Range air launched requirement. The weapon will maximize the potential of the UK’s future combat air capability, matching the weapon to the aircraft: “a 5th generation weapon for a 5th generation fast jet”. MBDA Artist impressions showing: Left: the SPEAR missile can be "quad packed" per each F-35 weapon bay (8x missiles total). Right: SPEAR could well become the missile of choice for anti-surface missions to be conducted in the near future...

From Foxtrot Alpha: After the Carter Administration's cancellation of the B-1A program due to fiscal concerns, the rise of air-launched cruise missiles and the possibility of developing a stealth bomber, Boeing put forward a low-risk, relatively cheap, cruise missile delivery vehicle alternative based on the mighty 747. It was called the Cruise Missile Carrier Aircraft, or CMCA for short. The idea was relatively simple, turn the premier long-range commercial hauler into an arsenal ship capable of carrying between 50 and 100 air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs). At the time the AGM-86 air-launched cruise missile was all the rage (it is still...

Alabama had a large presence at the Farnborough International Airshow. In the case of Raytheon, that presence was also tall, slender and packing a punch. The Massachusetts -based company had several presentations and displays at the London show, including information on the Standard Missile-6 and SM-3. Both of the missiles are produced at Raytheon's 70,000 square-foot automation integration and testing facility on Redstone Arsenal. The company's presentation included a life-size model of its SM-3 kill vehicle, a defensive weapon used by the U.S. Navy to destroy short-to-intermediate-range ballistic missile. The SM-3 doesn't use explosives; engineered instead to use sheer force...

Swedish defence firm Saab has declined to provide a bid for a 30 billion ($4.37 billion) Danish fighter contract while reports indicate that US firm Lockheed Martin is set to land the deal. Three candidates are officially in the running to receive one of Denmark’s biggest public purchases of all time when the military purchases new fighter jets by July 1st 2015. See also: Historic jet purchase enters new phase It was expected that four producers would provide bids for the contract, but the Swedish government and weapons producer Saab decided at the last moment to not bid for the...

Russian-made SAM has long held the respect of the world’s militaries WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The downing of a Malaysian Boeing 777 over Ukraine by suspected separatists using a Russian-made “Buk” surface-to-air missile, or SAM, is a grim reminder of a Cold War truism. Russian SAMs are some of the deadliest in the business. While the ground weapons of Russia and the predecessor Soviet Union — namely, the T-72 main battle tank and BMP-series infantry fighting vehicles — have fared particularly poorly in combat in Middle East wars against the Israelis and later against U.S. and coalition forces in the 1991...

A Malaysian passenger airliner with 295 people on board crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border, Interfax cited an aviation industry source as saying on Thursday.

FARNBOROUGH, England – The British Royal Air Force plans to finish technological upgrades of as many as 59 Tornado aircraft by 2016 as part of a modernization plan to keep the plane relevant as the F-35 and Typhoon come on line, officials said at the Farnborough International Airshow. The upgrades included outfitting the planes with precision weapons, improved information exchange and secure communication technology, said Dave Waddington, Tornado Force Commander, RAF. Although at least eight upgraded Tornado aircraft have recently served in Afghanistan, the RAF plans to fully phase out the plane by 2019 as more Eurofighter Typhoons and F-35s...

Dependence on Russian imports diminishing Russia is fast losing its dominance in Indian skies as the Indian Air Force is sticking to its guns on inducting 127 Rafale fighter jets from France and turning to the domestic military industry to supplement its requirements. Defence sources told The Hindu that despite an aggressive counter campaign by the British and Americans, the Indian side is firm about wrapping up the Rafale deal. The Rafale has made the grade because it is a safer twin-engine aircraft, which the IAF wants to fly for the next 40 years. Besides it has the teeth to...

Saab has revealed plans to inaugurate an avionics systems test rig for further development of the Gripen E fighter. Speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow, Lennart Sindhal, deputy CEO of Saab said that the systems test rig would mean that all the sensor suites for the aircraft could be tested on the ground, while data was transmitted and received from an airborne aircraft. He added that this development will be followed by the production of three more tactical rig test aircraft over the next three years to prove the Gripen E fighter. The aircraft will be built at a rate...

A Beaver (Harris Aircraft Services from Sitka) narrowly avoided a surfacing whale while landing at Angoon. on July 10 '14 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu2WEWRkoXk Pilot may not have seen the whale, but the exhale plume was certainly a tipoff. Hit pause/play to freeze the plume of mist and the whale's back.

Two US fighter jets were due to make their international debuts this week at the year's most important aerospace event, the Farnborough Airshow. At the moment, only one of them is here. The F-35 may be the world's most expensive, most advanced military jet programme, but it was a cheap and cheerful budget aircraft that managed the trans-Atlantic crossing to Farnborough. The Scorpion costs about $20m (£12m) a throw, is built from off-the-shelf components, and went from drawing board to first flight in 23 months. The F-35, costing three times as much and conceived in the early 1990s, is still...