The Air Force plans to commission a study to determine whether there is a gap in peacetime aerial refueling capacity that will set the foundation for a broader look at options for bridging such a shortfall.
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Wednesday, September 11, 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.
The Air Force plans to commission a study to determine whether there is a gap in peacetime aerial refueling capacity that will set the foundation for a broader look at options for bridging such a shortfall.
The Air Force is looking for industry input on a possible competition to develop a new advanced tactical aircraft to train fighter pilots, according to a notice released today.
The F-35 program is approaching its first wave of scheduled engine maintenance in 2023, and in preparation, engine-maker Pratt & Whitney is readying its architecture and processes for what the company views as a test of whether the engine sustainment enterprise is positioned to maintain readiness as it takes on additional workload.
The U.S. evacuation mission from Afghanistan may have benefitted from joint all-domain command-and-control capabilities as well as a more robust IT infrastructure, the director of operations at U.S. Transportation Command told reporters today.
House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee Chairman Jim Cooper (D-TN) said today he’s worried the Space Force isn’t “putting fear in the bones” of near-peer adversaries, saying the new service needs to move faster to field more advanced capabilities.
MIDDLETOWN, CT -- Pratt & Whitney has fielded a new F135 engine turbine blade coating to about 25% of the Joint Strike Fighter fleet and expects to complete the retrofit modifications by 2030.
A new innovation cell within the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Bombers Directorate aims to fly its prototype of an Agile Pod for the B-52 for the first time early next year.
Following a highly anticipated classified industry briefing later this month on its new force design for space-based missile warning and missile tracking, the Space Warfighting Analysis Center plans to shift its architecture analysis focus to other mission areas, prioritizing fire control, tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and space data transport as its next projects.
Welcome to today's Space Briefing -- a biweekly roundup of the latest national security space news.
The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin have negotiated a "production smoothing" agreement for F-35 deliveries to increase stability as the company's production process recovers from the impact of COVID-19.
The Air Force has selected Rolls-Royce to re-engine the B-52 fleet, awarding the company a contract worth up to $2.6 billion to provide 608 engines and spares.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The head of Space Training and Readiness Command said this week a new operational planning team began work this week to flesh out a five-to-10-year architecture roadmap for a new National Space Test and Training Range.
Senate authorizers want to add $1.7 billion to the Air Force’s fiscal year 2022 budget request for F-35A retrofit modifications, calling on the service to move “expeditiously” to upgrade older jets to the Block 4 configuration.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office once again sheds doubt on the Space Force’s schedule for the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared program -- despite insistence from the service that its schedule remains on track to begin launching the satellites in fiscal year 2025.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said this week he supports an F-35 engine replacement program that capitalizes on the billions of dollars the service has invested in adaptive propulsion technology, but said questions remain about affordability.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- A new assessment of the Air Force’s digital Century Series acquisition strategy from the Pentagon’s cost assessment and program evaluation office drew different conclusions than the service’s separate business case analysis, particularly in the area of cost.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Space Force today announced the first tranche of Army and Navy units it plans to transition into the new service on Oct. 1, though the chief of space operations said a continuing resolution could disrupt that plan.
The Air Force has chosen Northrop Grumman as a second integrator for the Three Dimensional Long-Range Radar recompete effort, awarding a contract late last week.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD – Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall revealed today there are five B-21 test aircraft being manufactured at Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, CA, production facility.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said today that while Congress plays a key role in enabling the Defense Department to deter threats from China and Russia, the service won’t succeed unless it’s authorized to shed old platforms and invest in new technology.