Saturday, May 17, 2025
Key Issues Army UAS focus Project Convergence FTUAS capabilities
Courtney Albon was senior editor for aviation and space at Inside Defense until December 2021. She covered the Air Force since 2012, reporting largely on space programs and fighter aircraft acquisition, development and budget from inside Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and from military installations around the United States. Courtney previously worked as a general assignment reporter at The Ashland Times-Gazette in Ashland, OH, covering education and local government. She graduated from American University in 2008, where she studied journalism and sociology.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said today during a Bloomberg defense conference that two teams are working on "pre-proposal types of activities" that will push the Long Range Strike Bomber program into competition later this year.
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center confirmed on Feb. 25 that a SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 launch from September 2013 will count as one of three required flights in the company's path to compete in future Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-Class missions.
F-35 program officials may soon give Joint Strike Fighter operators and maintainers the authority to override tasking commands provided by one of the aircraft's key IT systems until the program office can improve its performance.
ORLANDO, FL -- The Air Force later this year will launch the first two satellites of a new space-based surveillance program aimed at complementing the service's ground-based sensors by providing coverage in geosynchronous orbit.
ORLANDO, FL -- The Air Force announced today that it has declared its upgraded C-5M Super Galaxy aircraft operational after several milestone delays over the past year.
An Air Force Global Positioning System satellite was thrust into orbit without a hitch last night aboard a Delta IV rocket booster provided by the United Launch Alliance.
ORLANDO, FL -- A much-needed modernization of the Air Force's mobility and tanker training aircraft, the T-1, could be pushed aside in the service's pursuit of a new, next-generation training platform.
Following a nearly 18-month investigation slated to end in April, the Air Force and the United Launch Alliance believe thrust issues that occurred during an October 2012 Delta IV rocket launch are not systemic, officials said today.
The Air Force is considering whether to consolidate top nuclear leadership roles as part of an ongoing review of its nuclear enterprise initiated in the wake of a series of high-level scandals.
Ongoing delays with the navigation payload for the Air Force's next-generation Global Positioning System satellite will delay the delivery of the satellite and could push the launch date past the current 2015 target.
The chairman of the commission charged with studying the Air Force's active-duty and reserve force utilization said today that he expects the service will implement many of the panel's recommendations, which advocate for much greater reliance on the reserve component.
A congressional commission tasked with studying the Air Force's active-duty and reserve structure recommended this week that the service disband the Reserve Command and that Congress provide the service with greater flexibility and authority to close redundant infrastructure.
The Air Force's investigation into widespread cheating among the nuclear missile crew force at Malmstrom Air Force Base, MT, has expanded beyond the initial 34 officers considered to have been involved, according to the service's top civilian official.
The Air Force and Lockheed Martin have finished upgrading 40 of 165 F-22 aircraft with a structural retrofit that will allow the Raptor to continue to operate through its full 8,000-hour design life.
The Air Force's top energy official recently praised the Navy and the Agriculture Department for their work to incorporate biofuels into military fuel acquisition as part of a larger, Pentagon-wide effort to reduce fuel costs and increase energy efficiency.
The Air Force could revive the defunded Space-Based Surveillance System follow-on program within the next year should an ongoing analysis determine that existing research compiled over the last 20 years is enough to qualify the program for a milestone A decision
The Air Force today decommissioned the Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload Satellite -- just months after announcing its interest in potentially keeping the experimental payload in operation through 2015.
WALLOPS ISLAND, VA -- This week's record-setting, 29-satellite launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, which included 16 payloads sponsored by the Air Force's Space Test Program, is expected to demonstrate several key launch and range support technologies.
WALLOPS ISLAND, VA -- The third Operationally Responsive Space mission lifted off from Wallops Island, VA, at 8:15 p.m. Eastern time, 45 minutes into its launch window.
The Air Force is changing the way it screens officers for nuclear positions after the commander in charge of three intercontinental ballistic missile wings was fired last month.