Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works opened a new factory at its Palmdale, Calif., location Aug. 10, where it will likely produce multiple types of secret vehicles simultaneously. The factory exploits new digital technologies and automation that offer flexibility and speed of manufacturing, especially of short-run programs. ...
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and new Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall have a history, and some parts of it look to be repeating themselves. Kendall, now in his third week leading the Department of the Air Force, oversaw DOD weapons buying as the undersecretary ...
When Frank Kendall got a call from the White House asking if he could return to the Pentagon to lead the Air Force, he did not need long to think it over. Kendall, who left public service in in 2016 after leading Defense Department acquisition ...
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Military Sales of Air Force systems are on pace to eclipse fiscal 2020 levels, the head of USAF's Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate said Aug. 5. Transfers have centered on F-15s, F-16s, F-35s, A-29s, and MQ-9 drones. Despite a push ...
The combat search-and-rescue mission will be extremely challenging in a fight against a peer adversary, and the focus may have to shift to downed Airmen finding their own way to safety, Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mark D. Kelly said Aug. 3. The future of ...
The Air Force's first application of low-cost attritable aircraft systems will be as stealthy, jamming adversary systems for F-22 and F-35 fighters to practice against, Gen. Mark D. Kelly, head of Air Combat Command, said in a virtual seminar presented by the Air Force's Life ...
Strong performance in space systems helped Northrop Grumman achieve sales three percent higher than a year ago, company officers reported in a July 29 second-quarter earnings call with reporters. CEO Kathy Warden said the company’s prospects are rosy given strong support in Congress for not ...
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 ...
More than 40 F-35s across the U.S. Air Force are currently without engines according to the most recent data, top officials told Congress on July 13. Speaking before the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces, acting Assistant Secretary of the Air ...
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. is fashioning a fighting force to match what he describes as the “changing character of war,” one where all domains are contested and capabilities matter more than numbers. As the United States moves away from the Middle ...
Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is holding up Frank Kendall from a nomination vote for Air Force Secretary over the Pentagon’s decision to award the F-35 international training center to Arkansas's Ebbing Air National Guard Base. Michigan’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base possessed “superior qualifications” ...
The House Appropriations Committee released its draft of the fiscal 2022 defense budget on June 29, adding C-130s and MQ-9s to the Air Force’s budget request while leaving the service’s request for F-35s and F-15EXs untouched.