Space News reports, “Defense contractor Kratos Defense & Security Solutions won a $1.45 billion contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop testing capabilities for hypersonic weapons, marking one of the Pentagon’s largest-ever investments in hypersonic testing infrastructure. The five-year contract, announced Jan. 6, will support the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) program, which aims to accelerate the development of weapons that travel at speeds exceeding Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.”
Full Story (Space News)
Tag: Unmanned flight
FAA Reveals Wing’s Drone Delivery Network Plans
Aviation Week reported that plans to “expand Wing’s drone delivery network throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area have been revealed in a draft environmental assessment released by the FAA for public comment.” The plans would “expand Wing’s operating bases, or ‘nests,’ from three to as many as 25 across the metroplex.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Kratos Completes First Flight of Thanatos UCAV
Aviation Week reports, “Kratos Defense and Security recently completed the first flight of its Thanatos stealthy uncrewed combat air vehicle, proving out the aircraft’s basic design as the company now focuses on flying a fully integrated system. Steve Fendley, president of Kratos’ Unmanned Systems Division, tells Aviation Week the company hopes to learn more about the system as it evolves over the next 6-12 months. The company would not say when the first flight occurred, just that it was within the past several months.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
DARPA X-plane Steered by Air Bursts to Make First Flight in 2027
Defense News reports, “An experimental DARPA plane that would steer using bursts of air is expected to have its first flight in late 2027, more than two years later than originally planned, after the program was paused and restructured. The unmanned X-65, being built by Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences as part of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program, is designed to test a concept called ‘active flow control’ to steer an aircraft.”
Full Story (Defense News)
BAE’s PHASA-35 HAPS Secures Multiyear AFRL Surveillance Contract
Aviation Week reports, “The BAE Systems PHASA-35, an uncrewed, high-altitude, pseudo-satellite (HAPS), will operate monthslong airborne surveillance missions in coordination with U.S. Southern Command under a new contract. Acting on behalf of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), NASA quietly awarded a contract five months ago worth up to $10 million for the PHASA-35 to resume airborne missions operating from July 23, 2025, to April 17, 2030.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)