Northrop Grumman will officially move ahead as the sole company in the Air Force’s competition to design a new intercontinental ballistic missile, under a $13.3 billion contract, the service said Sept. 8. Northrop’s design for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent will replace the 400 nuclear-tipped Minuteman ...
The Air Force doesn’t need to grow its stockpile of “tactical” nuclear weapons to complement the Navy’s newly deployed submarine-launched W76-2 warhead, the Pentagon’s top nuclear policy official indicated Sept. 2. “The Air Force is doing more than its fair share in this area,” Robert ...
Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper continued his verbal offensive against China, accusing the country of “self-serving” behavior and a disregard for international laws, the same day the Chinese military fired medium-range ballistic missiles during a military exercise. China is undergoing an aggressive modernization plan to ...
While the Air Force has moved to put the F-15EX fighter program under contract, it's not obliged to buy the entire notional fleet of 144 of the jets, and could terminate the program at any time, according to Air Force Materiel Command. It may wish ...
The end of F-35 operational testing and declaration of full-rate production will likely come in March 2021, three months later than expected, Pentagon acquisition and logistics czar Ellen M. Lord told reporters at a Pentagon press conference on Aug. 20. She said the COVID-19 pandemic ...
Air Force F-35As from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, have patrolled the skies of the Middle East continuously for the past 16 months. During the 34th Fighter Squadron's eight-month deployment, the squadron tested new tactics for the fifth-generation F-35A that will lay the groundwork for ...
The Air Force will put its F-15EX schoolhouse in the location where the Air National Guard now trains F-15C/D Eagle pilots, at Kingsley Field, Ore., the service announced Aug. 14. Oregon will also receive the first operational F-15EXs, but other Guard units giving up aging ...
Some of the Air Force’s most advanced, secretive aircraft flew together in a large-scale event this week to vet the service's methods for destroying enemy air defenses, and to see how well older planes work with more advanced airframes. The 53rd Test and Evaluation Group's ...
American and Israeli F-35s trained together earlier this week, in the second bilateral exercise between the two countries focusing on Joint Strike Fighter operations. The exercise, called Enduring Lightning II, “illustrates the close relationship between the air forces and military echelons and enhances the cooperation ...
House lawmakers hammered Lockheed Martin for persistent problems in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter enterprise during a July 22 hearing, as the defense giant declined to promise it would fully reimburse the Pentagon for defective equipment files. At issue are electronic equipment logs, which act ...
The Department of the Air Force unveiled its first-ever Arctic Strategy on July 21, with Secretary Barbara M. Barrett citing the Arctic’s increasing strategic importance as Russia builds up its military presence in the area, China looks to normalize its presence there, and melting ice ...
The Pentagon will acquire eight F-35A jets previously bound for Turkey, plus six more F-35As under an $861.7 million contract. The contract modifies a previous fixed-price award and “exercises options to procure eight Lot 14 F-35A Lightning II repositioned aircraft as a result of the ...