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's F-35A fleet has become its third-largest fighter fleet—larger than that of the F-15C/D or E variants and larger than the F-22 Raptor fleet—and the type will likely surpass 250 air frames by the end of August, according to the Joint Program Office. ...
General Electric's F110-129 engine will power the first batch of F-15EX fighters for the Air Force, under a $101.4 million contract announced June 30. The first batch was not competed because of the urgency of getting F-15EX testing underway, and the GE engine is the ...
The Air Force formally accepted delivery of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Distributed Mission Training capability, following a capstone event at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., where four Joint Strike Fighter pilots flew alongside F-22s, F-16s, and an E-3 Sentry virtually for the first time. The DMT ...
Defense Undersecretary for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen M. Lord said the department is on the hook for billions of dollars in COVID-19-related costs, saying the Pentagon submitted its request to cover the claims to the Office of Management and Budget. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and ...
The COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions moved much of the Space and Missile Systems Center’s work online, but the Space Force still met major milestones on new systems virtually. In recent weeks, the GPS III Follow-on finished its critical design review campaign virtually and on ...
The Space Force has gathered more data on the hit industry has taken as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a top policy official said at a June 16 Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event. About half of respondents indicated their cash flow was at ...
Just a day after the Air Force announced that a full-rate production decision on the KC-46 tanker will have to wait until late fiscal 2024 due to extended testing of the redesigned Remote Vision System for tanking operations, the service’s acquisition executive offered his hope ...
The Air Force has officially delayed the KC-46’s full-rate production decision milestone until 2024 as the next-generation tanker works through problems plaguing its Remote Vision System, the service announced June 8. The Air Force and the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation decided the ...
The Air Force has released its final request for proposals on the B-52 Commercial Engine Replacement Program, which seeks to replace the bomber's 1960s' vintage engines with new ones that will carry the plane to its 2050s retirement. The Air Force wants responses next month, ...
Parts delays and the need to keep workers appropriately separate will translate to an 18-24 airplane shortfall in Lockheed Martin's planned 2020 F-35 production, the company said May 19. The figure is a worst-case estimate and could be mitigated by an earlier acceleration of parts ...
The Air Force's Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program has passed its preliminary design review, clearing the way for an award of the engineering and manufacturing development contract by the end of September. If all goes as planned, the new intercontinental ballistic missiles will be deployed to ...