Raytheon expects to demonstrate new target-recognition technology developed under Air Force Research Lab sponsorship this fall in the laboratory, leading to a flight evaluation next spring aboard a Raytheon test aircraft, the company said in a May 14 release. The company aims to show that software designed under its Air-to-Ground Radar Imaging II program would permit manned or unmanned aircraft equipped with current radar technology to detect, track, and target hostile forces in motion on the ground while operating from standoff distances of more than 50 miles away.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.