Airforce Technology reports, “Pratt & Whitney, part of RTX, has received a contract modification worth $3.8bn for the production of lots 18 and 19 of the F135 engine. The engine powers all three models of the F-35 Lightning II, which recently exceeded one million engine flight hours.”
Full Story (Airforce Technology)
Tag: Aerospace News
SpaceX Secures SDA-4 Launch Task Order from U.S. Space Force
Defense Daily reports, “SpaceX has received a more than $178 million task order from U.S. Space Force’s Systems Command (SSC) for two National Security Space Launch Phase 3, Lane 1 launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., for the Space Development Agency-4 (SDA-4) mission in fiscal 2027. The latter includes ‘dozens of missile tracking satellites’ by Sierra Space, SSC said on Tuesday.”
Full Story (Defense Daily)
NASA Prepares 322-Foot SLS Rocket for Artemis II Moon Flyby
The Wall Street Journal reports, “NASA’s Artemis II mission is designed to power a crew of four astronauts out to the moon, zip them around it and safely bring them back to Earth. It is a big test for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and a swarm of contractors, including Boeing, which developed the core stage of Artemis’s towering Space Launch System rocket, and Lockheed Martin, the company behind the Orion crew capsule.”
Full Story (Wall Street Journal – Subscription Publication)
Navy Issues Final RFP for T-45 Goshawk Trainer Replacement
Defense Daily reports, “The Navy issued its final Request for Proposals (RFP) on March 26 for its Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) that aims to succeed the current T-45 Goshawk trainer aircraft. The requirement for UJTS is to provide intermediate and advanced training for undergraduate U.S. Navy and Marine Corps jet aviators and flight officers.”
Full Story (Defense Daily)
Falcon 9 Launches 119 Payloads into Orbit on Transporter-16 Mission
Via Satellite reports, “SpaceX launched 119 payloads into Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) at 4:02 a.m. PT on Transporter-16, a dedicated smallsat rideshare mission, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Monday morning. The mission was the first stage booster’s 12thflight. It landed vertically on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean after releasing its payloads.”
Full Story (Via Satellite)
Video
SpaceX launches 119 payloads on Transporter-16 mission. (Launch occurs at the 0:10 mark)
VideoFromSpace; YouTube
NASA Advances X-59 Testing After Resolving Cockpit Alert Issue
Aviation Week reports, “The cockpit warning light that cut short the second flight of NASA’s X-59 low-boom supersonic flight demonstrator on March 20 proved to be a false positive and the aircraft resumed envelope expansion testing with back-to-back flights on March 26 and 27. The Lockheed Martin Skunk Works-built X-59 was forced to return to base at Edwards AFB, California, after only 9 min. of a planned hour-long flight on March 20 when NASA Test Pilot Jim Less saw a vehicle system warning in the cockpit.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
NASA Says Artemis II on Track for April 1 Launch
Space News reports, “While the Artemis 2 mission is primarily a test flight, the four astronauts on board will conduct some science during the nearly 10-day mission. ‘Science wasn’t in the driver’s seat to define what Artemis 2 is,’ said Jacob Richardson, deputy lead of Artemis 2 lunar science at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, during a panel discussion at the Goddard Space System Symposium March 12. ‘Instead, we are using Artemis 2 as an opportunity to get science to prepare for our later Artemis missions when science is more of a driver.’”
Full Story (Space News – Subscription Publication)
NetJets Receives First Ultra-Long-Range Global 8000 Jet
Flying Magazine reports, “The world’s largest private jet operator this week added the world’s fastest business jet to its fleet as premium travel inches toward a return to supersonic speeds. NetJets on Thursday took delivery of its first ultra-long-range Bombardier Global 8000 at the manufacturer’s Laurent Beaudoin Completion Centre in Dorval, Quebec. NetJets plans to build a 24-strong fleet of the aircraft, which received Transport Canada and FAA certification in late 2025. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) followed suit in January.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Space Force Considers Boosting Wallops Launch Cadence to Meet Commercial Demand
Defense Daily reports, “While the Space Force has used NASA’s site at Wallops Island, Va., to launch niche missions, including small-satellite orbital and sounding rocket hypersonic suborbital launches, the service may need to ensure that it is able to ramp up launches there significantly, the head of U.S. Space Command said on Thursday. Wallops “has been an amazing story over the last decade,” Space Force Gen. Stephen Whiting told a Senate Armed Services Committee.”
Full Story (Defense Daily – Subscription Publication)
U.S. Navy Finalizes Requirements for T-45 Replacement Trainer
Aviation Week reports, “The U.S. Navy has set an aggressive timeline and cost goal for its next-generation trainer, and will keep its plan to no longer require carrier-representative unflared landings to meet it. The service on March 26 released its final request for proposals (RFP) for the Undergraduate Jet Training System to replace its aging T-45 Goshawk fleet.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)