A contingent of RQ-4 Global Hawks are now flying out of Yokota Air Base, Japan, after making their regular trip from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, to avoid bad weather. The RQ-4s often move to Japan to stay safe from Andersen's typhoon season. A Pacific ...
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 ...
U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles are the best in the world, but allied nations are barred from acquiring those systems under a 1987 voluntary non-proliferation agreement that classifies them as equivalent to nuclear weapons. Now a new report from the Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies argues ...
The U.S. Air Force Academy intends to bring back about three-quarters of its Cadet Wing—basic cadets included—this summer, USAFA Graduate Liaison Nicole Cox wrote in a May 27 email to alumni that was obtained by Air Force Magazine. A USAFA spokesperson confirmed the email’s validity. ...
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 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 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 ...
Drone pilots and their sensor operator partners are used to life in enclosed spaces. They sit side-by-side in ground control stations, or cockpits, that measure less than 200 square feet, but those close quarters make social distancing in the age of coronavirus a challenge. Still, ...
Defense experts on April 27 warned the Pentagon not to seek money for its program wish lists as part of future spending legislation meant to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. The Department of the Air Force’s fiscal 2021 unfunded priorities list spans $3.2 billion for ...
The Air Force on April 27 kicked off Agility Prime, a new effort to help industry create a “flying car” for both commercial and military use. “There is a path for the military market to accelerate domestic use,” said Will Roper, the Air Force’s assistant ...
Air Force acquisition boss Will Roper is seeking more congressional help for the defense industrial base as companies find their new business rhythm in the coronavirus era. “We’re transitioning into the new steady state. The number of new discoveries is going down and that’s good,” ...
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 ...