Boeing is suffering a new rash of airplane problems. A supplier’s manufacturing quality mistake has prompted Boeing to delay deliveries of 767 freighter aircraft and 767-based KC-46 refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force, the company confirmed March 7. Boeing is investigating the extent of the problem to determine which aircraft will need a lengthy fix.
When Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, the Kremlin had an air force that could draw on hundreds of MiG and Sukhoi fighter jets in reserve. Ukraine’s fighter fleet was, by some estimations, far more meager, with 69 jets at most. Experts say that put it at about one-tenth the size of Russia’s. Ukraine and its supporters say Western fighter jets are now necessary to tip the balance in Ukraine’s favor, while allowing for close air support and air interdiction missions.
U.S. and South Korean troops are resuming large-scale field training exercises on the Korean peninsula with Warrior Shield FTX and Freedom Shield 2023, U.S. Forces Korea recently announced. Warrior Shield FTX, which began this month, is the U.S. military’s largest field exercise on the Korean peninsula in five years, while Freedom Shield 2023, which will begin on March 13, is an accompanying command post exercise.
The Air Force wants to speed up the retirement of its remaining A-10 Warthogs to fund new weapons it says are better suited to counter China. Service leaders have long sought to eliminate the almost half-century old plane, which has been repeatedly saved by lawmakers who argue that no other aircraft can protect ground troops so well. But after two decades of counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. no longer has a large number of ground forces deployed. The Air Force expects the battles of the future to be won by newer technology—including hypersonic missiles and stealth warplanes.
Barely a year old, Colorado-based startup True Anomaly already has caught the attention of the Space Force for its planned artificial intelligence-powered software and highly maneuverable satellites designed to pursue and image adversary spacecraft, according to CEO Even Rogers. True Anomaly in January nabbed a direct-to-Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from Space Systems Command, and expects to deliver its software package in “the April, May timeframe,” he told Breaking Defense in an interview.
Two new images of the B-21 Raider next-generation stealth bomber have been released by the U.S. Air Force. One is a detailed close-up of the B-21's nose and cockpit section, the other provides us with the first look at the planform of the secretive new jet, which aims to replace the B-2 and the B-1. The elevated image underscores the B-21's overall layout, which harkens back to what the B-2 would have looked like if requirements for low-level penetration were not introduced mid-way through its development.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the service is struggling to add new airmen to its ranks and will likely miss its active-duty, reserve and Air National Guard recruiting goals this year. Speaking March 7 at the Air and Space Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium in Colorado, Kendall pointed to decreased interest in wanting to serve in the military as one of the main contributing factors to a projected shortfall in this year's recruiting numbers.
The French Air and Space Force has received the first of its most sophisticated Rafale fighter jets, reaching a milestone after four years of development. The service’s Air Warfare Center, located on the 118th air base in southwestern France, took possession of the first F4.1 standard Rafale on March 2, the Ministry of Defense announced in a March 7 statement.
The U.S. military is studying whether it’s possible to integrate advanced Western air-to-air missiles with Ukraine’s Soviet-era fighter jets, in the latest attempt to jury-rig old platforms with new capabilities ahead of what’s expected to be a bloody spring. Officials are looking into whether AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, designed to be fired from Western fighter jets such as the U.S.-made F-16, can be mounted on Ukraine’s existing MiGs, according to two Defense Department officials and another person involved in the discussions.
The Air Force Research Laboratory has formed a new Digital Capabilities Directorate—and a virtual environment known as a “labverse”—to speed up its modernization pursuits and enable its scientists and engineers to explore and more efficiently collaborate via a growing suite of emerging technologies, AFRL Commander Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle announced March 7.
Boeing completed a demonstration of a U.S. military ground system designed to protect satellite communications from jamming attacks, the company announced March 7. In the demonstration of the Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES), Boeing integrated anti-jam software and hardware with the existing military satcom architecture. The company developed the PTES under a $383 million U.S. Air Force contract awarded in 2018.
A group of bipartisan legislators are “deeply concerned” about how thousands of errors ended up permanently etched into a Korean War memorial meant to honor the more than 36,000 service members who died during the conflict The Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance—a $22 million project unveiled last summer—contains more than one thousand spelling mistakes, incorrectly includes nearly 250 troops who died outside of the conflict, and omits about 500 others who should be on it, according to the independent Korean War Project,