While the first examples of the hypersonic missile AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) will be built at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, rate production will happen elsewhere, the head of Skunk Works told reporters. The company's Missiles and Fire Control unit will probably build the ...
Even as it ramps up production of the Lockheed Martin AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, the Air Force is doing preliminary work on a successor, Air Force armament directorate boss Brig. Gen. Heath A. Collins told reporters this week. Collins also provided an update on ...
The two-war force-sizing construct should be restored in the next National Defense Strategy being developed by the Biden administration, according to a new paper from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The authors argued that a one-war capacity invites adversaries to take advantage of U.S. ...
The 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, loaded five AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles onto an F-15E, more than doubling the Strike Eagle's normal JASSM load. The test comes about two months after the wing demonstrated that the Strike Eagle ...
Air Force Global Strike Command chief Gen. Timothy M. Ray offered a blunt assessment of the Army’s plan to take over some of the Air Force’s long-range strike mission. “It’s a stupid idea,” he said during an AFA Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies podcast. The ...
U.S. Air Forces in Europe last week wrapped its Advanced Battle Management System demonstration, bringing together dozens of aircraft from U.S. military services and multiple countries to find new ways to share data and operate together. The USAFE “on ramp” demonstration was the first to ...
A B-1B bomber on Dec. 4 released a JASSM stealth missile from its Sniper targeting pod pylon. The demonstration follows a captive-carry dress rehearsal in November, and paves the way for the B-1 to carry a variety of munitions, but especially hypersonic missiles, on external ...
The Air Force's major acquisition programs collectively increased in cost $3.7 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020, according the Pentagon's latest Selected Acquisition Reports. Most of the increases were due to buying more units and services. The F-15 Eagle Passive Active Warning ...
Air Force airlifters are one step closer to becoming bomb trucks after the service awarded Lockheed Martin a $25 million contract to continue developing palletized munitions. The contract, awarded in August and announced this week by the company, includes a demonstration in 2021 to assess ...
As Congress looks to delay passage of a new federal funding package until after the November elections, the Air Force is warning that even a three-month gap would harm national defense. “[Continuing resolutions] immediately disrupt major exercises and training events, affect readiness and maintenance, curtail ...
Democratic senators on Aug. 4 indicated they could hold up the confirmation of Shon J. Manasco as Air Force undersecretary as recourse for the Trump administration’s decision to install a controversial official into a key Pentagon policy post without Senate approval. That standoff loomed over ...
USAF F-16s, KC-135s, MC-130Js, and MQ-9s linked up with U.S. Navy aircraft and ships as well as support from U.S. Space Command during a large-scale exercise in the Black Sea on July 22. The mission in Eastern Europe, with Russia watching, “was designed to train ...