Wednesday, May 8, 2024
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.
Defense Department leaders are working with the military services to develop transition plans that will allow the department to shift its population on the electromagnetic spectrum, a move that it hopes to complete over the next two years. The change will allow greater frequency access to commercial users to meet growing consumer demand.
The decision to delay a Pentagon-level acquisition decision for Space Fence will cost the Air Force about $70 million, according to the service's acquisition executive.
An Air Force Delta IV launch slated for Oct. 23 has been pushed back due to results revealed during an ongoing investigation of a flawed launch that occurred in October 2012.
A stop-work order issued to Aerospace Corp. during the 16-day government shutdown has stalled the certification process for what could be the first new entrant into the Air Force's medium-class launch market.
The Army has not shown interest in operating the Air Force's A-10 fleet should the service move forward with an option to divest the close-air-support aircraft, according to congressional correspondence obtained this week by Inside the Air Force.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) has lifted her hold on the confirmation of Air Force secretary nominee Deborah Lee James -- but she still has concerns about the possibility that the Air Force may retire its A-10 fleet.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) has blocked the confirmation of a new Air Force secretary until the Air Force responds to her concerns about a capability gap should the service choose to move forward with plans to divest its entire A-10 fleet.
The Air Force this morning launched its third Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The navigation payload for the Air Force's next-generation Global Positioning System satellite is facing delays that could impact the program's delivery schedule, Air Force Space Command chief Gen. William Shelton said today.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- While the prospect of a continuing resolution to start the new fiscal year will disrupt the Air Force's already complicated budget planning process, acting Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning told reporters today that he's fairly optimistic the service will get the flexibility it needs to avoid major setbacks to programs like the Joint Strike Fighter and the KC-46.
The Air Force next week will launch its third Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite in the last four years -- the last AEHF satellite to liftoff before a three-year pause in the program's launch schedule. The Air Force's AEHF program manager said this week that the pause should not affect the service's ability to meet requirements.
A contract award for the Air Force's new Space Fence has been delayed until at least next spring, pushing the program's expected initial operations to 2018, according to the chief of Air Force Space Command.
Air Force Space Command is preparing to cease operation of the Space Surveillance System by Oct. 1 -- a move forced by sequestration, according to a press release issued this evening.
The Air Force tonight successfully launched its sixth Wideband Global Satellite Communications spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.
As Pentagon officials work this fall to draft the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, they must balance an unconstrained, forward-looking vision with the reality that limited resources will play a critical role in the ability to fulfill that vision, an Air Force official said today.
A Defense Department wish list delivered to Congress in June highlights $1.3 billion in equipment and military construction projects that reserve components would have prioritized in the coming fiscal year had their funding not dropped in the department's FY-14 budget request.
One effect of the Air Force's decision to ground aircraft and reduce flying hours is that its airmen are not developing the skill sets and experience they need to advance at as high a rate as they did in the past. This change in the pace of growth is causing the service to rethink its traditional processes for promoting airmen, according to a service official.
The Air Force continues to await a Space Fence acquisition decision from the Pentagon and, in the meantime, is considering how it may be able to upgrade and extend the life of existing sensors should the contract not be awarded.
The office of the Air Force's chief scientist has been working through a budget exercise focused on identifying gaps between funding and priority science and technology investment areas.
Implementation next month of Air Force civilian furloughs will free funding to allow the service to bring seven fighter squadrons now operating at very minimal levels back to combat mission readiness, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said this morning.