Monday, May 6, 2024
Key Issues Budget 'parity' Summer CUAS demo EW in Ukraine
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 F-35 joint program office is looking closely at Block 4 requirements, priorities and costs over the next few months as it works toward getting an approved capabilities development document from the Joint Requirements Oversight Council in December.
Raytheon confirmed this week that it has filed an appeal of a federal court decision to re-evaluate bids for a $1.5 billion long-range radar contract awarded last October.
The Air Force's top acquisition official is doubtful the government owns the intellectual property for the launch vehicle that has carried many of its satellites to space since 2006 -- the United Launch Alliance's Atlas V.
An Air Force nuclear official said this week that the service is not alarmed with the $460 million cut to its next-generation bomber program proposed in the House Armed Services Committee's mark of the fiscal year 2016 defense authorization bill, calling the proposed reduction a "normal budgetary practice."
After three years of informal discussion and input, countries involved in developing an international code of conduct for space will meet in July for the first official negotiations, with the goal of producing a completed document by the end of the deliberations.
The senator leading the charge to kill the Air Force's proposal to retire the A-10 Warthog wants to repeal language signed into law last year that allowed the service to move some A-10s into a backup aircraft inventory status.
The Air Force's plan for developing and buying a new, American-made rocket engine will be heavily influenced by the technology and partnering decisions industry makes in the next two months, according to Air Force Space Command chief Gen. John Hyten.
The Defense Department's inspector general is calling for more oversight of the Joint Strike Fighter's F135 engine -- a recommendation that engine-maker Pratt & Whitney and the F-35 joint program office say would add time and cost to the program.
The Air Force plans to launch its fourth X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mission next month.
The House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee mark-up of the fiscal year 2016 defense authorization bill would grant the Marine Corps' request for six additional F-35 B-model aircraft while denying a Navy request for eight more of the C-model variant.
The Air Force is working with industry to develop alternatives to replace the 60-year-old B-52 bomber's engine and radar system, and expects to make a decision this summer about whether to issue a request for proposals.
The Air Force this fall will realign its B-1 and Long-Range Strike Bomber fleets under Air Force Global Strike Command, according to an April 20 press release.
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- The Air Force recently announced a slight change of course in its plans to compete future Global Positioning System production that allows incumbent providers Lockheed Martin and Exelis to participate in early production readiness work. Lockheed's vice president of military space programs said this week that he is pleased with this development and what it means for future competition.
The Air Force announced this week the four bases that are in the running to host the Air Force Reserve's first KC-46 Pegasus squadron as soon as fiscal year 2019.
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- As the Air Force works to refine its plan to develop and acquire next-generation rocket engine technology, some in industry are skeptical of the notion of a government-funded engine program.
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- The Air Force is in the midst of sweeping changes to the way it thinks about launch competition and constellation architecture, and the head of Air Force Space Command said April 14 that the service has a lot of work to do in order to enable those changes -- particularly in the areas of launch range infrastructure and ground system architecture.
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- The United Launch Alliance revealed its Next-Generation Launch System, the Vulcan, on April 13, and President and CEO Tory Bruno told reporters certifying the first variant of the new rocket by 2020 is an aggressive time line but not outside the realm of possibility.
The Defense Department's fiscal year 2016 budget request includes a $5 billion increase in space security spending -- a plus-up that officials say is linked to a growing, and more clearly articulated, concern about the threats of competition, congestion and aggression in the space domain.
Lockheed Martin this week filed a protest of the Air Force's decision to award Raytheon a $700 million contract for sustainment of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado.
A new program schedule for the KC-46 Pegasus reflects a significantly reduced testing slate for the Boeing-built tanker and estimates the total acquisition cost will drop by nearly $3 billion as a result, according to an April 9 Government Accountability Office report.