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’s tanker presence in the Arctic will grow, with four more KC-135s heading to a new Active component at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The KC-135s and up to 220 Active duty Airmen will head to the 168th Wing at Eielson, with aircraft ...
Full-rate production of the F-35 and delivery of the Block 4 upgrade will keep slipping until the simulator is fixed and the Pentagon sets some realistic timetables for software development, the Government Accountability Office reported on March 18. It recommended better automatic tools for assessing ...
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 ...
The Air Force saw 72 aviation accidents over the course of fiscal 2020—up from 62 in fiscal 2019—including an A-29 crash that partially disabled an American Airman, according to Air Force Safety Center data. Thirteen of the 72 total accidents caused injury or death. The ...
The first of 19 engines that will power test models of the new Boeing F-15EX has been delivered, according to GE Aviation. The new fighters enter combined developmental and operational test at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., early next year. The Air Force awarded the ...
The head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe is “convinced” the command will base F-35As at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., on time in late 2021, despite some delays to military construction and a possible slowdown in F-35 deliveries because of COVID-19. “I am clear eyed that ...
Pentagon researchers this week will pit man against machine in an aerial dogfighting tournament to see if artificial intelligence algorithms can outsmart each other and a human F-16 pilot in combat. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s AlphaDogfight Trials will host eight teams that have ...
The Air Force will have the first two F-15EXs in hand for testing in about six months, Boeing's F-15 Vice President and Program Manager Pratyush Kumar said. His comments come just two days after the Air Force officially launched the program with a contract worth ...
The Air Force's F-15EX contract awarded to Boeing July 13 could cover as many as 200 of the advanced Eagles, 56 more than the service has previously said it would buy. The “up to” figure in the contract is an increase from 144, which the ...
General Electric's F110-129 engine will power the first batch of F-15EX fighters for the Air Force, under a $101.4 million contract announced June 30. The first batch was not competed because of the urgency of getting F-15EX testing underway, and the GE engine is the ...