The manned fighter aircraft that will form the centerpiece of the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance program will cost hundreds of millions of dollars per plane, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told members of Congress on April 27—but the service can reduce costs in ...
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 will rely on the F-16 for the bulk of its low-end missions for nearly two more decades, deputy chief of staff for plans and programs Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom said. A decision on the sol-called MR-X which will replace the F-16 ...
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 thinks its 17-plus years of demonstrations with unmanned aircraft with various degrees of autonomy will give it a leg up as the Air Force seeks to build new classes of tactical and strategic uncrewed aircraft, company aeronautics vice president Greg Ulmer said in ...
Russia's invasion of Ukraine and China's growing strategic arsenal have "pretty well put to bed" the debate over whether the U.S. should preserve all three legs of the nuclear triad, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said. Although he would not discuss particulars about the unreleased ...
New unmanned fighter and bomber projects won't unravel the Air Force's "4+1" combat aircraft roadmap, Secretary Frank Kendall said at the AFA Warfare Symposium. He provided broad outlines of the unmanned bomber and a cost target but said the project will be classified.
The Air Force is closely monitoring the unfolding war in Ukraine and is committed to deterring—and defeating—further Russian aggression, but the forthcoming National Defense Strategy will maintain that despite the current threat environment, the pacing threat is still China, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said ...
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall warned of putting too much emphasis on hypersonics just because China is advancing in that area, saying hypersonic missiles are better suited to China's strategy and that USAF has yet to determine the right munitions mix for the future. He ...
A raft of strategy and posture reviews are coming in 2022 that will significantly shape the Air Force, even as the service is slated to make major strides on programs and conduct critical tests. The B-21 is expected to take to the air mid-year, and ...
The Air Force’s mantra under Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. has been to “accelerate change or lose,” but the most recent wargaming indicates, so far, the latter, according to Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, the Air Force’s futurist. The corrective action is to speed up ...
The Air Force’s “4+1” fighter plan for the 2020s, unveiled in recent months, will leave the service with a fleet that’s too small and improperly configured to deal with peer threats. What’s needed is a plan that emphasizes stealth aircraft; rapidly retires non-stealthy and expensive-to-maintain ...