Air Force officials are still looking to perfect directed-energy weapons to use against the low-tech threat of small drones before scaling up lasers and microwaves to take out cruise missiles. The Air Force’s high-power microwave weapon known as the Tactical High-Power Microwave Operational Responder, or ...
The Air Force Research Laboratory welcomed Brig. Gen. Heather Pringle as its new commander on June 18, marking its third leadership change in six months. Pringle follows Brig. Gen. Evan Dertien, who has served as the lab’s top officer since January. He replaced Maj. Gen. ...
The competition is open for the next cohort of small and innovative companies vying to benefit from a three-month residency at the Colorado Springs campus of the Catalyst Space Accelerator. As many as 40 startups are expected to apply for the eight slots available, developing ...
Air Force researchers are designing an autonomous aircraft that can take down a manned plane in air-to-air combat, with the goal of pitting the two against each other in July 2021. Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, head of the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, said the ...
The Air Force is getting its Skyborg wingman drone program underway, reaching out to industry for technology that could head to a future experimentation campaign. Multiple companies could each win $400 million to contribute technology toward a best-of-breed Skyborg drone, the service said in a ...
The X-37B spaceplane launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on May 17, sending the U.S. Air Force Academy's largest batch of satellite experiments to date along for the ride. USAFA’s FalconSat program, run with the Air Force Research Laboratory and contractor Geneva Technologies, ...
The Air Force plans a high/low mix of rocket-boosted and air-breathing hypersonic missiles to give adversaries a troublesome and expensive defense problem, service acquisition executive Will Roper said May 14. While the ARRW missile is on track for operational service at the end of fiscal ...
The Air Force will shortly launch its effort to buy Skyborg drone prototypes, according to the official running the unmanned wingman program. The service will begin soliciting aircraft this month and plans to award contracts to the winning designs by the end of the summer, ...
The next Advanced Battle Management System experiment, slated for late August or early September, will focus on supporting U.S. Space Force, and the one after that will be centered on U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Air Force chief architect Preston Dunlap said May 7. Speaking during a ...
The Air Force is seeking industry input on a new class of air-to-air missiles, which would be faster and longer-ranged than the AIM-120 and AIM-9X that currently equip its fighter fleet. It's not clear, though, how the new weapons would join a portfolio where there ...
The X-37B spaceplane will embark on its sixth mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on May 16, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said. The secretive, unmanned orbital test vehicle, which will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, is notching new ...
The Air Force’s information technology enterprise is facing an unprecedented test. The coronavirus pandemic has shocked global economies, sent nations into lockdown, and overwhelmed hospitals in some of the largest American cities. As the U.S. workforce adjusts to the new reality of working from home, ...