The Advanced Battle Management System, the Air Force’s contribution to the Pentagon’s joint all-domain command and control concept, has hit several high-profile speed bumps over the past several months. But it is still vital, leaders say, and will require constant iterative updates.
Munitions needed in a near-peer competition, especially with China, may call for longer ranges, and aircraft may need to be able to carry more of them. Defense industry executives made these projections among others in a panel discussion Sept. 20 at AFA’s Air, Space & ...
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is so confident in the hack-proof software it developed for a remote-controlled quadcopter that it invited hackers at the recent DEF CON cybersecurity convention to try to break in and take it over. Developed using a technique called "formal ...
After six straight quarterly losses, Boeing reported profits of $755 million in the second quarter of 2021, a year after posting a $3.32 billion loss. Company officials reported no new loss on the KC-46 tanker, on which the company has lost $5 billion so far. ...
Leaked images of Russia's new F-35-class single-engine jet fighter suggest the aircraft borrows from U.S. Joint Strike Fighter designs, resembling both Boeing's X-32 and McDonnell Douglas' JSF in some key aspects. The fighter, to be formally unveiled July 20, joins a crowding field of F-35 ...
The State Department has approved the potential sale of a dozen F-16 jets, plus AGM-84 Harpoon missiles and AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles, to the Philippines, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced June 24. All told, the sales would total up to nearly $2.9 billion, with the ...
The Air Force and Boeing are addressing two additional Category 1 deficiencies in the KC-46 in addition to the four remaining Category 1 problems involving the aircraft’s refueling system. The previously unannounced issues are with the aircraft's receptacle drain line tubes and Flight Management System, ...
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center on June 16 issue a call to determine which companies could provide a “bridge tanker” to cover the gap in tanker capacity between the end of KC-46 production and development of a future refueler. The Sources Sought Announcement ...
The Air Force is requesting limited funding for its T-7A Red Hawk next-generation trainer because of technical issues uncovered in testing, which have pushed back the full-rate production decision on the aircraft by a year. The 2022 budget request calls for $188.9 million in research, ...
A feature in the KC-46’s advanced refueling system, designed to improve safety and ease the burden on boom operators, is not working as designed, so the Air Force implemented a workaround. The problem is with the aircraft’s Aerial Refueling Software, which has preset limits for ...
The existing VC-25As, known as Air Force One when the President is on board, may have to undergo another maintenance cycle, requiring Air Mobility Command to take funding from other requirements, as the replacement program faces a possible schedule slip. Boeing presented the Air Force ...
Air Force Global Strike Command boss Gen. Timothy M. Ray said the Air Force did not include any new MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters in its fiscal 2022 budget request because of certification delays related to the pandemic. "I spent some time talking to Boeing about ...