The Air Force’s munitions roadmap is meant to take a comprehensive view of service weapons needs, focused on the next five years but taking a longer view, as well. Modularity may be a hallmark of the future weapons inventory, the service’s munitions PEO said.
Three more “all-up” flight tests of the AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) must succeed before the Air Force decides whether to press on into production for the hypersonic missile, the service has told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Lockheed Martin will also have to ...
The Air Force is moving forward with a new Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile as one of its top two hypersonic weapons programs, Weapons Program Executive Officer Brig. Gen. Heath Collins said in a recent interview. The service has discussed similar efforts underway in its hypersonic ...
Northrop Grumman will officially move ahead as the sole company in the Air Force’s competition to design a new intercontinental ballistic missile, under a $13.3 billion contract, the service said Sept. 8. Northrop’s design for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent will replace the 400 nuclear-tipped Minuteman ...
Nuclear modernization concerns are again on the table for fiscal 2021 defense policy negotiations, as House lawmakers raise issues about staffing, program delays, and how to use the weapons themselves. The Air Force’s three major nuclear weapon upgrade programs—the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the Long-Range Standoff ...
The Sig Sauer M18 handgun will replace the M9 pistol that has been in service since 1985. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Small Arms Program Office purchased some 125,000 M18s from Sig Sauer for $22.1 million, and delivery is slated to be complete ...
The F-15E Strike Eagle is the first Air Force aircraft to prove it is compatible with the refurbished B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb, Sandia National Laboratories announced on June 8. “We were able to test the B61-12 through all operational phases and we have extremely high ...
The Air Force is spearheading development of the Defense Department’s first hypersonic cruise missile. The service on April 27 reached out to industry to seek input on a “solid rocket-boosted, air-breathing, hypersonic, conventional cruise missile” that can be launched from existing fighters and bombers. Air ...
The Air Force recently finished delivering 2,700 new, lightweight rifles designed to be carried in an Airman's ejection seat. The Air Force Gunsmith Shop, part of the Armament Center at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, designed the 7-pound, 5.56 mm rifle, which is ...