The Air Force plans to begin evolving its fighter fleet to one that can win a Pacific war by retiring 421 old jets and buying 304 new ones, transitioning away from the F-22 and A-10 to an advanced, sixth-generation fighter and an F-16 replacement in ...
The Air Force is preparing to unveil a 30-year fighter force design that calls for two new fighters—one for high-end fights and one for less demanding missions—a new way of providing close air support, and the retirement of the F-22 starting in about 2030, a ...
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. wants to neck down the Air Force's fighter inventory from seven fleets to four, and the F-22 is not on his short list. The extant seven-fleet mix of fighters will need to be reduced to ...
The Navy and Air Force are working together on the Next-Generation Air Dominance program, expecting to produce dissimilar airframes but with common internal systems, the Navy's air warfare chief reported March 30.. The new aircraft carrier airwing will increasingly shift toward unmanned aircraft in the ...
Canadian-based CAE announced plans to buy L3Harris Technologies’ Military Training business for $1.05 billion, saying the acquisition broadens its training and simulation portfolio and doubles its U.S. defense presence. The proposed acquisition, which is slated to close in the second half of 2021, “accelerates our ...
The head of Air Combat Command isn't sure the cost of operating the F-35 will hit the desired $25,000 per hour by 2025, and he's headed out to meetings to see what can be done to make it happen. He's also concerned that China will ...
The Air Force's new tactical aviation study will determine if a surge in F-35 production is needed in order to buy out the planned 1,763 airplanes before the 2040s. But that decision also will depend on funding, contractor capacity, and the need for complementary aircraft, ...
Former Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper's transformational ideas on how to buy new systems will stay on track without him, senior service officials said Feb. 24. Digital engineering, agile software development, and open architectures will play a part in all new systems. But sticking ...
Air Force acquisition boss Will Roper told reporters Jan. 14 he hopes to wrap up at least two final items in his last week on the job: signing a strategy to develop and buy a mini-internet for the military to use in flight, and finishing ...
The Air Force will flight test the U.S. military’s first hypersonic missile this month, Air Force acquisition boss Will Roper said Dec. 14 at the inaugural Doolittle Leadership Center Forum. Speaking on the theme of “From Acquisition to Lethality,” Roper also described progress on the ...
Exhausted by almost 20 years of nonstop combat against violent extremism, the Air Force is seeking a new cycle of modernization and refurbishment, Air Combat Command chief Gen. Mark D. Kelly said Dec. 11. The new construct would routinely change out old gear and modernize ...
The Air Force's top weapons buyer is worried the top-secret Next Generation Air Dominance program might become an “unintended casualty” of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawmakers in the final draft of the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill are cutting $70 million from the NGAD program for ...