Saturday, September 14, 2024
Briana Reilly was a Pentagon emerging tech reporter until December 2022. She previously covered the Air Force for Inside Defense after joining the publication in June 2021. Before that, she spent five years covering state politics and government in Wisconsin for The Capital Times and WisPolitics.com.
The Utah Air National Guard demonstrated the use of Tactical Targeting Network Technology with a KC-135 Stratotanker for the first time in a flight earlier this month as part of a push to support the Air Force’s role in implementing the broader Joint-All Domain Command and Control framework.
The Air Force’s chief scientist is calling on policymakers to not only invest in new microelectronics technologies, but also help shape goal-setting around those investments, as the service and defense officials seek to make the area a budget priority in the next fiscal year.
With the Air Force moving away from seeking a direct replacement follow-on to the MQ-9, officials are assessing their next steps as they determine how a multirole unmanned aerial system could integrate with the broader force design going forward, a service spokesman said.
The Air National Guard 174th Attack Wing's recent demonstration of a host of new MQ-9 capabilities within the Ghost Reaper suite is one leg of a synchronized push to "create an aircraft that is far more capable than any one service or organization could make on its own," the wing's chief of weapons and tactics told Inside Defense this week.
Originally expected to transition to a program of record in fiscal year 2023, a top official tied to the Air Force's Skyborg effort is backing off that timeline, telling reporters today the program is poised to continue operational experimentation over the next several years.
One of the top officials at U.S. Space Command said today he foresees the formation of "an internet of space things" that would facilitate autonomous communications between satellites and constellations, bolster awareness and avoid collisions.
The Air Force chief of staff said his service's new force-generation model will prevent officials from "running ourselves ragged" as part of a broader effort to standardize scheduling and ensure sustained readiness and future modernization.
Building off its purchase of eight new F-16 jets as part of a more-than-$1 billion deal two years ago, the Bulgarian government continues to eye a follow-on agreement for additional aircraft as part of a discussion that is "still in the works," a U.S. Air Force official said today.
The Air Force and a group of venture capital firms have struck a $60 million contract with Georgia-based aerospace start-up Hermeus Corporation to bolster hypersonic development.
The Air Force expects to clear a key hurdle in replacing and modernizing the legacy, decades-old Theater Battle Management Core System in March 2022, when the service projects it will unveil the first minimum viable capability release of its in-the-works software package, a top official involved in the effort said today.
The Air Force's Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon may face schedule changes after the service's flagship boost-glide hypersonic vehicle logged continued issues in its second test last week, though a program executive noted officials are currently "still postured to award and transition into production by the end of fiscal year 2022."
The Air Force's HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter is not expected to face additional program delays in light of a recent court ruling that barred the service from moving forward with a nearly $1 billion sole-source contract for rolling upgrades to the legacy HH-60G Pave Hawk replacement.
Kratos' chief executive said the company hopes to win a multiyear award from the Air Force for a target drone program in the coming months, one of "several" deals he's looking forward to seeing from the Defense Department before year's end.
Facing ongoing airworthiness certification delays, Air Force officials are "still locking in" a new milestone C date to clear the way for the production and deployment of Boeing's MH-139A Grey Wolf, a service program executive said today.
The Air Force has kick-started a new data and artificial intelligence initiative and is working to develop a new minimum viable product as officials look to support a department-wide AI effort, according to the service's chief architect.
After failing to launch from a B-52H bomber during its first flight test, the Air Force's Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon successfully completed its full release sequence but stopped short of igniting its rocket motor as part of a demonstration Wednesday.
Coming off a quarter that logged a 34% jump in space sales, driven in large part by Northrop Grumman's role in the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program, company officials anticipate that growth will "modulate" heading into 2022.
The first-built XQ-58A Valkyrie is heading to the Air Force Museum after officials opted to retire the drone and clear the way for new production aircraft that a Kratos spokeswoman said would "be better suited for future representative flight testing and operations."
Lawmakers on the House Armed Services intelligence and special operations subcommittee are calling on the comptroller general to review U.S. Special Operations Command's armed overwatch program as part of their fiscal year 2022 defense policy proposal.
Citing concerns about data sharing between intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft and tactical platforms, the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee is asking the Air Force to take steps to boost interoperability between the RC-135 and key weapon systems in its fiscal year 2022 defense policy bill draft.