MRO   Helicopter   Sikorsky   Supply Chain   Europe   M&A   Aircraft Manufacturing (OEMs)   Defense Budgets & Spending   Defense Industry & Major Contractors   Policy & Regulation   Geopolitical Developments & Conflict Impact   Defense Deals   Textron  
Aviation Week • Tony Osborne

Bell Textron creates Ukraine subsidiary to support helicopter assembly, MRO and long-term defense industrial cooperation

Bell Textron Inc. has formed Bell Textron Ukraine and is preparing to open a dedicated office to serve as the hub for its future in-country activities. The company says the setup is intended to underpin longer-term cooperation with Ukraine’s defense industry, including helicopter assembly and maintenance and repair support.

2026-04-17T10:45:15.785400-07:00
Museums   UAV Development & Drone Programs   AI   Military Aircraft Procurement   Aircraft Manufacturing (OEMs)   Defense Industry & Major Contractors  
FlightGlobal • Ryan Finnerty

Pratt & Whitney PW500 engine will power Northrop Grumman YFQ-48 autonomous fighter

By FlightGlobal: The Northrop jet is the first uncrewed fighter prototype to officially feature a Pratt & Whitney engine. Military airframer Northrop Grumman has selected a business jet engine from Pratt & Whitney to power the company’s new YFQ-48A Talon Blue uncrewed fighter jet.

Also: defence-blog.com, Defense Daily and 3 more
2026-04-17T15:16:11.915042-07:00
UAV Development & Drone Programs   AI   Military Aircraft Procurement   Defense Industry & Major Contractors   Geopolitical Developments & Conflict Impact  
DefenseNews.com • Cristina Stassis

Air Force unit executes test of Anduril’s semiautonomous combat drone

By DefenseNews.com: Airmen operated Auduril's YFQ-44A jet-powered combat drone, which could someday fly alongside piloted fighters.

Also: AirForceTimes, c4isrnet.com and Military Times
2026-04-17T12:59:53.196480-07:00
Satellite   Aircraft Manufacturing (OEMs)   Defense Industry & Major Contractors   Human Spaceflight & Space Stations   Space Policy & International Cooperation   Space Defense & Militarization   Policy & Regulation  
Breaking Defense • Theresa Hitchens

Lockheed Martin nabs $105M ground system contract to support next-gen GPS

By Breaking Defense: The upgrade to be performed under then new contract would allow Lockheed Martin's AEP ground system to replace RTX's long-troubled OCX program for future GPS IIIF birds.

2026-04-17T15:37:15.080655-07:00
Air Cargo & Freight Logistics   Europe   Military Aircraft Procurement   Defense Budgets & Spending   Asia-Pacific (APAC)   Defense Policy  
FlightGlobal • Greg Waldron

Canberra looks to replace C-27Js with ‘commercial’ type

By FlightGlobal: Canberra aims to replace its fleet of Leonardo C-27J tactical transports, although it intends to maintain the airlift capacity to serve Pacific neighbours.

Also: AeroTime, Scramble and The Aviationist
2026-04-16T23:24:31.483594-07:00
Satellite   Europe   Space Defense & Militarization   Geopolitical Developments & Conflict Impact  
Space Intel Report • Peter B de Selding

French military: Iris2 won't be deployed by 2030, we'll use OneWeb until it is; looking at Germany's constellation, too

By Space Intel Report: LA PLATA, Maryland — The French military acknowledged that Europe’s Iris2 multi-orbit secure connectivity constellation will not be in orbit in 2030 as hoped but stressed its importance to France’s future “collaborative combat” strategy and said it would make do with the military-augmented commercial OneWeb.

2026-04-17T13:22:37.405336-07:00
UAV Development & Drone Programs   AI   Defense Industry & Major Contractors  
Breaking Defense • Sydney J Freedberg Jr

Northrop Grumman’s Talon IQ testbed hot-swaps AI brains mid-flight

By Breaking Defense: “While the aircraft was flying, the software was queued up so that we could have different companies’ behaviors take control of the platform and fly [it]," said Dan Salluce, Northrop’s senior director for aerospace systems.

Also: Janes
2026-04-17T15:37:14.670447-07:00