Pledging to pursue “speed without sacrificing discipline” in the acquisition process, Gen. Duke Z. Richardson took command of Air Force Materiel Command on June 13, relieving Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr., who has run the service’s acquisition, research, development, logistics, and test organization since 2019. ...
Just five U.S. aircraft remain to be certified with the KC-46 tanker for operational missions designated by U.S. Transportation Command, Air Mobility Command said. The new tanker is certified for some 97 percent of mission taskings now, but it's unclear when the next capability release ...
Development of the KC-46 Pegasus tanker might have fared better if it had been a cost-plus, rather than a fixed-price program, and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said, "I'll take the hit" for that approach. Though progress has been slower, the KC-46 is now ready ...
The "Air Force One" replacement will be two to three years late due to pandemic issues, testing, and the loss of a subcontractor on the interior, USAF officials reported at a House Armed Services Committee hearing. They were also warned that some HASC members will ...
Altus Air Force Base, Okla., evacuated 33 aircraft of the 97th Air Mobility Wing ahead of severe storms on May 3 and 4 and secured the remaining aircraft on base in hangars, but there was no damage and the full complement of aircraft had returned ...
The Air Force probably won’t pursue some exotic approach for the KC-Y and KC-Z tranches of the service's aerial refueling tanker modernization plan, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said. The KC-46, “tweaked” with upgrades, can likely do the job for KC-Y, he ...
The Air Force is asking Congress to retire 150 airplanes in its fiscal 2023 budget, including 33 of its advanced F-22 fighters, but it would also hand off 100 MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft to another government agency and buy more than 82 other new ...
Lockheed Martin will build its LMXT next-generation tanker from green Airbus A330 airliners in Alabama, then convert them to military tankers in Georgia, if it wins the KC-Y, or "bridge" tanker, competition set to to be selected at the end of 2024, the company said ...
Boeing's losses on the KC-46 tanker now add up to over $5.4 billion, as the company took an additional charge on the program of $406 million in the last quarter of 2021. The company chalked up the loss to continued resolution of the Remote Viewing ...
With just a few days left until the current continuing resolution funding the government expires, the Department of the Air Force enumerated 16 new starts and four production increases that will be blocked until Congress appropriates money for the Pentagon's fiscal 2022 activities. Also stymied will ...
Air Mobility Command’s KC-46 next-generation refueler has been operating from five bases nationwide and for nearly two years, but lessons learned and problems encountered were not unified until a Nov. 17-18 Weapons Systems Council at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan. “The KC-46, being a new ...
Purchases of new F-35 fighters, KC-46 tankers, and C-130 transports in recent years have made only a small dent in the age of the Air Force’s fleet, down to 29.1 years across all types after hitting 30.55 years in 2020. But the service operates eight ...