The Air Force will likely make a decision this summer on whether to insert Advanced Engine Transition Program powerplants into the F-35 fleet, Secretary Frank Kendall said, because he doesn’t want to waste money on further delay if the program isn’t going forward. “We need ...
Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt took command of the F-35 Joint Program Office on July 5, succeeding Air Force Lt. Gen. Eric Fick, who is retiring. The succession of an Air Force PEO by another—breaking more than 25 years of back-and-forth joint leadership—may ...
The U.S. comptroller general, who oversees the Government Accountability Office, will assess sustainment challenges of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and report back to Congress by March 2023 under a House Armed Services subcommittee markup of the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. The readiness ...
Congress wants new engines in the F-35 fleet, with installs starting in 2027, according to language in the conference version of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. The Air Force is to use at least one of the engines developed under the Advanced Engine Transition ...
Pratt & Whitney is testing its Adaptive Engine Technology Program XA101 powerplant and has already demonstrated the objective goals for the program, company military engines president Matthew Bromberg said. He estimates that up to 70 percent of the technology could be fitted to improve fighter ...
The Air Force wants to use propulsion developed under the Adaptive Engine Technology Program in the F-35A but may not be able to afford doing so on its own if the Navy doesn't also underwrite some of the integration effort, Department of the Air Force ...
The Air Force would have to bear the full development and integration cost of putting new Adaptive Engine Technology Program engines in its F-35 fleet because the other services can’t fit the powerplants in their versions of the fighter, F-35 Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. ...
A new F-35 sustainment contract to Lockheed Martin “paves the way” toward a performance-based logistics contract that the company has been angling for since 2019 and is worth $6.6 billion if all options are exercised. But all bets are off about hitting the Air Force’s ...
Engine makers should be able to meet House defense policy bill language calling for a new F-35 powerplant based on the Adaptive Engine Transition Program by 2027, but only for the conventional takeoff versions, a GE Aviation executive said. “We would be eager to step ...
Russia officially unveiled its new Checkmate fighter at the MAKS airshow July 20, offering a series of ambitious performance claims about the jet, which it is clearly promoting as a low-cost, single-engined alternative to the F-35 in the world market. Company officials said an unmanned ...
In the wake of threats by members of Congress to cut buys of the F-35 over its high sustainment costs, the Government Accountability Office is recommending that just such a course of action be considered until the fighter’s operating costs come under control. The GAO ...
F-35s from four nations are coming together in a large-scale exercise in Italy during which the fifth-generation fighters will fly alongside several fourth-generation jets. USAF F-35s from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and F-16s from Aviano Air Base, Italy, are flying in exercise Falcon Strike ...