DefenseNews

US Air Force, Navy conduct ICBM test aboard nuclear command aircraft

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force and Navy on Wednesday morning conducted a test launch of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile in California using an airborne control center. The weapon, which contained a test reentry vehicle, was controlled from an Airborne Launch Control System in a Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft, the Air Force said in a statement. Airmen from the 625th…
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DefenseNews

Air Force wants to launch programs without having to wait for Congress

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Weary of the annual tradition of waiting for Congress to approve a budget before kick-starting new programs, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall is proposing a workaround. Kendall told reporters April 19 at the Space Foundation’s Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., that the service has submitted a legislative proposal that would give the Air Force and Space…
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DefenseNews

Northrop Grumman passes key review for transport satellites

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Northrop Grumman’s design for the Space Development Agency’s next batch of communication satellites passed a critical review in March, the company said in a statement April 18. Northrop is on contract to build 42 satellites for SDA’s Tranche…
DefenseNews

Sikorsky won’t sue US Army after GAO rejected protest over future helo

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky said Tuesday it won’t sue the U.S. Army after the Government Accountability Office rejected its protest of the service’s decision to choose Textron’s Bell to build the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft. The FLRAA competition pitted Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft against Sikorsky and Boeing’s Defiant X, which features coaxial rotor…
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DefenseNews

China reveals new details of Raytheon, Lockheed sanctions

TAIPEI, Taiwan — China revealed new details of sanctions it previously announced against two U.S. weapons manufacturers Tuesday, including a ban on Chinese companies doing business with them. China imposed trade and investment sanctions in February on Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies Corp.’s Raytheon Missiles & Defense for supplying weapons to Taiwan, the self-governed island…
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