Daily Report posted items Friday on Thursday’s two launches: 1) the Boeing-built reusable X-37B orbital test vehicle aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V in its trimmed down 501 configuration (see X-37B Boosted into Space); and 2) first launch of an Orbital Sciences Corp. suborbital Minotaur IV Lite, boosting DARPA’s HTV-2 into the upper atmosphere for its planned 30-minute, 13,000 mph streak over the Pacific (see Minotaur IV Lite Boosts Hypersonic Vehicle).
The U.S. thwarted a drone attack on U.S. forces at Al Asad air base in western Iraq on April 22, marking the first time that American troops have been targeted since February, U.S. officials said. “We can confirm it was an attack on Al Asad,” a defense official told Air & Space…