Inside the Air Force highlights

Some must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Air Force:

1. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program expected to have an approved Block 4 follow-on modernization capability development plan in hand this summer, but officials now expect that document will not be approved by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council until later this year.

Full story: F-35 CDD again delayed past this summer to 'later this year'

2. As the Air Force looks to modernize its weather and space-based missile warning systems over the next several years, the Space and Missile Systems Center's remote sensing directorate is preparing to transition its focus from operating legacy systems to developing and producing those new constellations.

Full story: SMC remote sensing directorate planning for transition to new architecture

3. The Defense Department's High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office is inviting industry to look at current problems with a variety of lasers and beam-control systems and submit white papers on how those could be improved, according to two broad agency announcements published earlier this month.

Full story: High-energy laser office floats $98M for laser source, beam-control projects

4. Aerojet Rocketdyne is working to eventually reduce the cost for each pair of AR1 engines from about $25 million to approximately $15 million, company officials recently confirmed.

Full story: Aerojet Rocketdyne eyeing lower-cost AR1 'further down the road'