There are breakthrough capabilities promised by quantum technologies that experts say could give the U.S. Air Force crucial advantages in a future conflict with China—provided, that is, that the U.S. military invests in developing those technologies sooner, not later.
Collins Aerospace has spent more than a half century developing electric power generation technologies that power aircraft around the world. Alongside its industry-leading engineering teams, Collins credits development of next-generation electric technology to its strategic partnerships. As technology continues to...
Air Force leaders have already said they are shifting their focus away the hypersonic Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW). Now, the program may not get funding to complete a final few tests if the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee gets his way. In ...
Blacksmiths have produced weapons and armor for thousands of years, and the Air Force still relies on them today to shape metal into aircraft parts. But emerging technology could introduce a new form of blacksmithing where artificial intelligence makes the fine-tuned decisions involved in bending ...
“Electric air taxis” are coming to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., early next year, as the Air Force and Joby Aviation announced a deal April 25 as part of the service’s Agility Prime program. The deal’s announcement comes just a few days after Air Force pilots ...
Though touted as “loyal wingmen,” Collaborative Combat Aircraft may not always be paired with crewed aircraft and may function only in concert with one another or weapons in “swarms,” the better to complicate an enemy’s ability to track and counter them, senior Air Force CCA ...
The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board—a group of experts and researchers the department taps for independent advice on key science and technology efforts—is undertaking four studies in 2023, including two that will likely inform the service’s approach to Secretary Frank Kendall’s operational imperatives.
DARPA and the Air Force conducted the final test of their scramjet-powered Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile, DARPA announced Jan. 30, and said the program’s “findings will now be used in follow-on efforts.” The Air Force is moving forward with two hypersonic weapons—the AGM-183 Air-Launched ...
The Air Force has handed out a $334 million contract to contractor Leidos for “Mayhem,” the secretive program aimed at developing a larger class of hypersonic system, the Pentagon announced Dec. 16. The contract comes more than two years after the Air Force first began asking ...
A new lab building at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., will house some of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s “irreplaceable” equipment for testing how electronic spacecraft parts will likely stand up against radiation in space. Also this year at Kirtland, AFRL opened the Skywave Technology ...
The Air Force is considering making aerodynamic retrofits to one of its flagship cargo planes in an effort to save on fuel and be kinder to the environment. As part of a project that has been in the works for years, the Air Force Research ...
The Air Force will make a “significant investment” in uncrewed, collaborative combat aircraft in the fiscal 2024 budget, a quartet of generals announced at the Pentagon. They insisted that the technology is mature enough to move aggressively toward a program that will yield operational capability ...