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, ...
The Air Force is spearheading development of the Defense Department’s first hypersonic cruise missile. The service on April 27 reached out to industry to seek input on a “solid rocket-boosted, air-breathing, hypersonic, conventional cruise missile” that can be launched from existing fighters and bombers. Air ...
The Defense Department’s coronavirus response is giving the fledgling Space Force a chance to show its skills and shaping how Airmen manage military satellite communications along the way. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said March 17 the Pentagon had given the Navy orders to start preparing ...
The Air Force will kick off its effort to encourage the development of flying cars with a virtual launch event featuring product presentations and government briefings from April 27 to May 1. Known as “Agility Prime,” the initiative aims to support private companies that are ...
Virgin Orbit subsidiary VOX Space will launch dozens of small satellites into space for the Space Force’s Orbital Services Program-4, under a $35 million contract announced April 10. For OSP-4’s first round of launches, dubbed Space Test Program-S28, VOX Space will deliver 44 satellites to ...
The Air Force Research Laboratory announced April 6 it has kicked off its overseas demonstration of directed-energy weapons dispatched to take down threatening unmanned aircraft. While the demo has long been in the works, AFRL revealed that its Tactical High-Power Operational Responder (THOR) system will ...
Aeromedical flight crews are training at Joint Base Charleston, S.C., on an older isolation system for transporting highly infectious patients by air, even as the Air Force rapidly develops and tests a newer and more elaborate system for the mission. Testing on the C-17 is ...