Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper announced today the service has flown a full-scale Next-Generation Air Dominance flight demonstrator and has "broken a lot of records in the doing."
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Key Issues USAF depot plan Autonomy in the air I-CsUAS contract
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 acquisition executive Will Roper announced today the service has flown a full-scale Next-Generation Air Dominance flight demonstrator and has "broken a lot of records in the doing."
The new head of Air Mobility Command said today that while she has seen progress in Boeing's proposed interim KC-46 Remote Vision System upgrade package, she needs more testing data and assurance that the near-term value the capability could bring to the warfighter outweighs the time it would take to upgrade existing tankers.
The Space and Missile Systems Center's Production Corps is working to develop a digital engineering acquisition strategy and expects to reach initial operational capability on its flagship programs by January.
Unexpected software development challenges have pushed the first delivery of a major F-22 upgrade from the end of 2020 to September 2021 and drove the program and prime contractor Lockheed Martin to transition in June from a cost-plus contract to a hybrid, fixed-price arrangement.
The Defense Department inspector general's office this week published its audit of the Air Force's process to certify new entrants to the national security space launch enterprise, which confirmed the Space and Missile Systems Center generally complied with its own guidance, but recommended lifting some constraints in its process and working with SpaceX to assess reusability.
A new Defense Department inspector general report finds that the F-35 joint program office has a "nonfunctioning process" to determine whether damaged parts should be repaired or discarded -- an issue that has led to a reduction in available spare parts and disposal of hundreds of parts without DOD approval.
In a new strategy paper released Monday, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Brown appears to build on his predecessor's drive to divest from legacy programs and reinvest in modernized, networked capabilities, saying the service has a "unique, but limited" opportunity to make significant changes to prepare to counter future threats.
The Space Development Agency on Monday awarded contracts to Lockheed Martin and Denver-based York Space Systems to develop the first 20 satellites of its transport layer, slated to be developed and launched in two years.
The Space and Missile Systems Center is looking to modernize its information technology infrastructure, writing in a recent request for information that the move is necessary to support two major programs -- the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications and Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared systems.
Welcome to today’s Space Briefing -- a biweekly roundup of the latest national security space news.
A new document released this week by Air Force Special Operations Command details its top areas of interest over the next 20 years, which includes capabilities to improve command-and-control interoperability, full spectrum threat warning and countermeasures and beyond-line-of-sight functionality.
A new Defense Department space leader forum aims to help facilitate cooperation and deconfliction across the national security space enterprise's architecture without adding bureaucracy to the space acquisition process.
The F-35 joint program office is ramping up its analysis of a possible performance-based logistics sustainment contract with Lockheed Martin, according to a notice posted this week.
The vice commander of Space Force headquarters said today he expects in the next few weeks to reach an agreement with the Office of the Secretary of Defense about which Army and Navy space programs should transition to the new service, beginning in fiscal year 2021.
The Air Force today activated the new 15th Air Force, consolidating its conventional forces under a single numbered air force.
SpaceX has confirmed in a new court filing that it intends to maintain its lawsuit against the Air Force's 2018 Launch Services Agreement award, despite winning a contract earlier this month to launch 40% of Phase 2 national security spacelift missions.
The Air Force's B-21 bomber development saw some supply chain disruption this summer when a major subcontractor, Spirit AeroSystems, announced production delays due to COVID-19, but program manager Randall Walden said today the team has adapted to the challenge and is "on the right path, to date."
The director of the Space Rapid Capabilities Office said today his organization is slated to remain independent from the new Space Force Space Systems Command, at least in terms of budgeting and acquisition.
Welcome to today's Space Briefing -- a biweekly roundup of the latest national security space news.
The Space Force today released its first spacepower doctrine, meant to set the foundation for the new service and provide a key step toward distinguishing it as an independent entity.