The Air Force estimates it would cost more than $300 million to restructure the next-generation B-21 bomber contract from a cost-plus to a fixed-price contract, according to the service's military deputy for acquisition.
Friday, April 18, 2025
Friday, April 18, 2025
Key Issues Overhauling the FAR Troops in South Korea Overland AI
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 estimates it would cost more than $300 million to restructure the next-generation B-21 bomber contract from a cost-plus to a fixed-price contract, according to the service's military deputy for acquisition.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Monday that any national-level fund to support the Defense Department's nuclear triad modernization should encompass all three legs rather than a single program.
Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work sent lawmakers a memo this week assuring them that the Air Force's recent rocket propulsion systems awards comply with the law as established in fiscal year 2015 and 2016 authorizing legislation.
A few days after copies of the Air Force's unfunded priorities list began circulating on Capitol Hill, the service on Friday released to reporters a portion of the list that it is calling "tough choices" -- programs that were cut from its fiscal year 2017 budget request.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said this week she will provide Congress with a list of potential F-35 Joint Strike Fighter foreign military sales customers.
Some must-reads from this week's Inside the Air Force.
The Defense Department's adoption of a more threat-informed approach to identifying capability gaps in its space architectures has refined the investments its fiscal year 2017 budget proposes for existing programs, but officials recently told Inside the Air Force that any resulting new programs will not be reflected until at least 2018.
The Air Force estimates it would cost between $1.5 billion and $5 billion to reallocate launches from the Atlas V to the Delta IV, based on a preliminary analysis of options for acquiring space launch services when the RD-180 is banned from its inventory.
The Air Force's $7.2 billion unfunded priorities list includes a request to buy back five F-35As, eight C-130Js and a slate of legacy aircraft modernization efforts that were sidelined in its fiscal year 2017 budget request.
The Air Force on Monday entered into public-private partnership agreements with Aerojet Rocketdyne and the United Launch Alliance to develop propulsion prototypes to replace the Russian-made RD-180, lifting a hold on awards pending congressional clarification.
ORLANDO, FL -- The Air Force's fiscal year 2017 budget includes approximately $2 billion across the future years defense program that aligns with the Defense Department's "Third Offset," an Air Force official said Friday.
The Air Force has designated the new Long-Range Strike Bomber the B-21, service Secretary Deborah Lee James said Friday.
ORLANDO, FL -- Several combatant commanders are pushing to get the much-talked-about "Arsenal Plane" concept "as soon as possible," according to the head of Air Force Global Strike Command.
ORLANDO, FL -- Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program manager said this week that a block buy among international partners is still possible in FY-17, but that shortened time frame is not the company's preference.
ORLANDO, FL -- Lockheed Martin expects to deliver a prototype of its advanced electro-optical targeting system this year -- a capability F-35 Joint Strike Fighter officials have said is a top priority for Block 4 modernization.
ORLANDO, FL -- Air Force Global Strike Command will brief top leadership in late March on its plans to integrate the Long-Range Strike Bomber into its fleet.
The Defense Department will consider "at least a partial cancellation" of the next-generation Global Positioning System ground segment if prime contractor Raytheon doesn't deliver over the next few months, according to Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall.
Raytheon announced Monday that it will partner with Alenia to offer the T-100 aircraft as part of its solution for the Air Force's competition to build a next-generation trainer.
Must-reads on "Third Offset" investments, the F-22 and more.
The commander of the Air Force's space acquisition office on Friday declared the ground system for the next-generation of Global Positioning System satellites the Defense Department's most troubled program.