Moon Race: U.S. Not Alone in Future Lunar Exploration

Posted at: Thu Apr 27th, 2006

An unprecedented salvo of international probes will soon shoot for the Moon, all equipped to signal that a new era of lunar exploration has begun. If schedules hold, spacecraft from India, China and Japan will be moonbound before NASA’s own Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter swings i...

Second Afghanistan campaign for Canadian Sperwer UAVs

Posted at: Thu Apr 27th, 2006

Since the beginning of March, the Canadian Forces' Sperwer CU161 UAVs have been used in the Kandahar region for the benefit of Afghanistan's operational forces. The first flights in their operational missions were carried out successfully, with excellent availability.

Pieces of NASA's Next Mars Mission are Coming Together

Posted at: Thu Apr 27th, 2006

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, the next mission to the surface of Mars, is beginning a new phase in preparation for a launch in August 2007. As part of this "assembly, test and launch operations" phase, Phoenix team members are beginning to add complex subsystems such as the flight compu...

U.S. Army Apache Helicopter Fleet Passes Two Million Flight Hour Mark

Posted at: Thu Apr 27th, 2006

ST. LOUIS, April 26, 2006 -- The U.S. Army AH-64 Apache combat helicopter fleet, produced by The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA], has logged more than two million flight hours, according to recently released U.S. Army operational summary data.

House panel restricts missile defense

Posted at: Thu Apr 27th, 2006

WASHINGTON, April 26 (UPI) -- The House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee has eliminated funding for a third National Missile Defense site in Europe, the committee's Democrats said Wednesday. The cut is part of an overall effort to slow spending on longer-term missile defe...

House Panel Wants Second JSF Engine

Posted at: Thu Apr 27th, 2006

Yesterday, the House Armed Services Committee's tacair panel proposed to add $408 million to the 2007 defense budget to sustain the Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine program. The panel believes that having an alternate engine will bring significant savings and offer improved performance ...

EADS Advances Aerial Tanker Development

Posted at: Thu Apr 27th, 2006

The first A330 aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force's Multi-role Tanker Transport (MRTT) program has rolled off the production line and completed initial evaluations, and the advanced fly-by-wire refueling boom that will equip it has recently concluded a preliminary series of in-flight tests....

Media Invited to Blended Wing Body Wind Tunnel Test

Posted at: Thu Apr 27th, 2006

The future meets the past as researchers from NASA, Boeing and the U.S. Air Force test what could be the shape of some airplanes to come. Engineers have installed a small-scale blended wing body prototype in an historic wind tunnel that once hosted some of America's greatest aviation pioneers, inclu...