The Air Force selected Boeing for a $181 million contract to upgrade the fire control radar on the B-1B bomber fleet. The reliability and maintainability improvement program (RMIP) is expected to take nine years to complete. The company is to deliver modification kits that will replace the receiver and processor in the bombers beginning in 2011. The kit will increase the radar systems’ reliability and substantially improve the bomber’s combat readiness, according to Kurt Eberhart, the manager of Boeing’s B-1 radar program.
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.