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A T-6 Texan trainer from Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph crashed roughly 30 miles from the base near Rolling Oaks Mall, Air Education and Training Command officials said Tuesday. “The crew ejected and is safe with minor injuries reported at the site,” AETC said in a Facebook post. “There were no civilian casualties, and the extent of damage to property has not been assessed,” officials said. Members from the base’s fire and safety units from the 12th Flying Training Wing responded to the incident alongside local responders, the announcement said. Two parachutes were seen deploying from the aircraft, indicating the airmen...

NASA wants to build another space station, but this one won’t live in a close orbit around Earth. Within the last year, NASA has begun planning for a much smaller astronaut outpost in orbit around the Moon, a new destination dubbed the Gateway. The idea is for this space station, which will be a fraction of the size of the International Space Station, to serve as a place for astronauts to live and train for excursions to and from the lunar surface. A crucial piece of hardware needed for this Gateway will, of course, be habitats — spaces for a...

“The US Navy awarded Boeing on Thursday an $850 million contract to design and build the MQ-25A Stingray, the Navy's first carrier-based unmanned refueling aircraft.”

The controversy swirling around the F-35 joint strike fighter echoes previous battles fought over aircraft tasked with serving more than one master. Perhaps the central question in today’s debate is whether a single airplane designed to perform many missions adequately is a better and truly more affordable choice than several airplanes, each designed to perform a single mission flawlessly. In 1968, the Navy had an unequivocal answer: No. But were they right? In the early 1960s both the Navy and the Air Force were shopping for new combat aircraft. The Navy needed a carrier-based interceptor capable of engaging Soviet bombers...

Russian Helicopters presented a new version of the Mi-28N attack helicopter that improves combat survivability and firepower and implements manned-unmanned teaming capability for the first time. The “Night Hunter” was used extensively in the Syrian theater, used both by the Russian and Syrian forces. Some of the improvements address lessons learned from these operations. “We are constantly improving military helicopters because the requirements of our customers change, and we always aim to meet them. Due to the experience of using Mi-28 machines during military operations, we knew how to further develop this project. The modernization considerably increased the capabilities of...

Hypersonic technology -- weapons and interceptors able to travel at least five times the speed of sound -- are a top Pentagon priority and an area where China and Russia are perceived to be ahead of U.S. military efforts. The Defense Department has committed to spend aggressively to catch up. Based on initial contract awards, it's becoming clear that Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) is outpacing the competition in the battle to win the lion's share of those awards. Lockheed Martin earlier this month was awarded a $480 million contract to develop a hypersonic air-launched, rapid response weapon (ARRW). The award could...

Photos by Petty Officer 2nd Class Timothy SchumakerBoeing has received a $17 million contract for convert nine F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft for Blue Angels flight demonstration team, said in the statement of the U.S. Department of Defense on 13 August. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has contracted Boeing for the retrofit documentation and kits to convert nine F/A-18E (single-seat) and two F/A-18F (tandem-seat) aircraft into a Blue Angel configuration in accordance with engineering change proposal 6480. According to the DoD, work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed in December 2021. The Blue...

China’s expanding line-up of multirole, all-weather J-16 fighter jets will help the air force to launch strikes deep into enemy territory and destroy key strategic assets like airfields and bridges, military analysts say. While it is not as advanced as the new J-20 – officially named Weilong, or powerful dragon – the Shenyang J-16 will become a key part of PLA Air Force operations and any strategy against Taiwan or to deter US military intervention, they said. China’s air force announced last week that a squadron of J-16s would soon be combat ready. Based on the Russian Sukhoi-30 fighter jet,...

Israel is mulling over a large, multi-billion dollar defense spending boost for the Israeli Air Force, or IAF, which could include money for fighter jets, transport helicopters, cargo planes, and six new aerial refueling tankers. This last tender was already set to be highly competitive and now there are reports that Boeing has blocked Israel Aerospace Industries, also known as IAI, from offering second-hand 767 airliners converted into tanker-transports, which would be a direct threat to its own troublesome 767-based KC-46 Pegasus. The Israeli business daily Globes was the first to report the developments on Aug. 6, 2018. According to...

MiG-29K/KUBs are seen during sea trials aboard Kuznetsov in 2013. (photo: Russian Aircraft MiG) The Russian navy has embarked on a three-year project to modernize its sole aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, or Project 1143.5, with a focus on achieving full operability with the Russian Aircraft MiG-29K/KUB fighter. Although navalized MiGs flew from the carrier during trials in 1989-1991 and during its seventh and most recent deployment to the Mediterranean Sea in late 2016/early 2017, they are yet to be completely integrated with the carrier’s systems. According to the Nevskoye Design Bureau, the ship’s developer, some of the outdated onboard equipment...

For now the F-15SA Eagles being delivered to Saudi Arabia are the most advanced Eagles, but those destined for Qatar have even more advances, such as a wide-area display in the cockpit. (photo: RSAF) Earlier this month, the Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs, HE Dr. Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah, visited the Boeing Company factory at St. Louis, Missouri, to formally inaugurate the production of F-15QA Eagle multi-role fighters that have been ordered for the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF). Although no initial delivery schedule has been announced, the 36 are due for delivery by...

The NASA manager overseeing development of Boeing and SpaceX’s commercial crew ferry ships says the space agency has approved SpaceX’s proposal to strap in astronauts atop Falcon 9 rockets, then fuel the launchers in the final hour of the countdown as the company does for its uncrewed missions. The “load-and-go” procedure has become standard for SpaceX’s satellite launches, in which an automatic countdown sequencer commands chilled kerosene and cryogenic liquid oxygen to flow into the Falcon 9 rocket in the final minutes before liftoff. “From a program standpoint, we went throgh a pretty extensive process where we laid out the...

The B-61-12 gravity bomb, a GPS-guided behemoth that’s been in development since 2008, can penetrate three meters of earth before detonating and dial up a nuclear yield of between 0.3 kilotons and 50 kilotons of devastating power. A message to Iran? Read on: An Air Force B-2 stealth bomber just completed the first test drop of an advanced nuclear gravity bomb, Military.com reported on June 30. The B-61-12 gravity bomb , a GPS-guided behemoth that’s been in development since 2008 , can penetrate three meters of earth before detonating and dial up a nuclear yield of between 0.3 kilotons and...

MADISON, Miss. (AP) — An aerospace company spun off from a larger conglomerate will make its headquarters in central Mississippi. Vertex Aerospace announced Friday that it will invest $1.4 million and hire 70 front-office workers over the next two years at its Madison office. The company currently employs 340 there, and 856 more statewide. Private equity firm American Industrial Partners of New York bought Vertex in July from L3 Technologies for $540 million....

Think of aerobatics and it's fighter jets and light aircraft that spring to mind. But the crowds at the recent Farnborough Airshow were treated to the sight of a new Rolls-Royce-powered LM100-J Hercules transport plane pulling outrageously nimble manoeuvres – including a loop. The man at the controls was chief test pilot Wayne Roberts – and his stunt was caught on camera.

Nine astronauts have new travel plans aboard commercial space capsules, with their mission assignments announced earlier today (Aug. 3). Five of those astronauts flew aboard the United States' last set of spacecraft to travel to the International Space Station (ISS), the space shuttles. But while the newly announced crews are excited to once again launch from Florida instead of Kazakhstan, they aren't very nostalgic for the hardware of the shuttles themselves. During the press announcement of the new astronaut assignments, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine asked two veteran astronauts to compare their new rides to the shuttles they flew more than...

Prescott, AZ – August 2, 2018 – Eviation, an Israeli startup pioneering the industry’s first all-electric aircraft, selected Prescott for its US corporate headquarters. Eviation will open an office at the former Guidance Aviation building, at the Prescott Municipal Airport in August. The decision came following months of discussions in the greater community and across the state. “We met with their CEO, Omer Bar-Yohay and his team twice over the course of the past year, and connected them with local resources like Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Yavapai College and others,” said Lamar. “Our Economic Development Consultant Jim Robb connected them with...

The esoteric subject of fighter aircraft contracting, usually restricted in the Indian context to the occasional headline, boomed within the walls of India’s Parliament a week ago. In the eye of the proverbial storm was — and continues to be — India’s purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France. With less than a year to go for the country’s next national election, one that promises to outstrip all earlier elections in its assurance of a historically no-holds-barred fight, the aircraft deal is now a fully loaded political weapon, where the noise has helpfully blurred many of the questions being...

Last week, the aerospace-defense community was overwhelmingly intrigued by a report from Defenseone.com that said Boeing was pitching a new variant of its 45-year-old F-15 Eagle line of fighters to the United States Air Force. Still, next to nothing is known about this initiative, including where it came from and what it entails exactly. Although it has been framed as a Boeing solicitation to the USAF, the opposite is actually true—the USAF began the discussion over a year and a half ago. Since then, ongoing talks have been kept incredibly hush-hush, along with the details of the aircraft involved—until now....

After adding 1,800 workers over the last year to ramp up production of F-35 fighter jets, Lockheed Martin said Monday it’s looking to hire 400 more technicians, mechanics and assemblers to help tackle the growing workload. Lockheed will be interviewing candidates for those positions at a July 30 hiring event being hosted at the Sheraton Fort Worth, with qualified applicants getting a shot at on-the-spot job offers. The Maryland-based defense company, which builds state-of-the-art F-35 jets at its Fort Worth plant, said it’s specifically looking to hire in several roles: avionics technician; milling machinist; low observable coater; structural assemblers; aircraft...