Thursday, December 5, 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 released a report on March 4 that concurs at least partially with all but one recommendation put forth last year by the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force: the commission's call to disestablish Air Force Reserve Command.
The Air Force has obtained congressional approval to move 18 A-10 Warthogs to a backup inventory status to help alleviate an F-35 maintainer shortfall, according to a Feb. 27 press release.
The Air Force is pushing for an extension on the congressionally imposed 2019 deadline for eliminating reliance on a Russian-made rocket engine, saying that technical analysis shows the service may need until at least 2021 to develop a domestic alternative and possibly another two years beyond that to integrate that engine onto a launch vehicle.
The chief of Air Force Materiel Command Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger announced her retirement today at an Air Force Association conference in Orlando, FL.
The Space and Missile Systems Center said this week it intends to seek a contingency capability should continued delays to the next-generation Global Positioning System ground control segment push its delivery so far to the right that is not available in time to operate the first GPS III satellite.
ORLANDO, FL -- The Air Force's requirements for the next-generation trainer, the T-X, are in final coordination with Pentagon leadership, and the commander of Air Education and Training Command said this week that the service plans to have those requirements finalized in the next few weeks.
The Air Force announced today that it has entered into a five-year agreement with SpaceX that will allow the company to lease existing launch space to create the first-ever landing pad for its reusable Falcon-9 first-stage rocket boosters.
The Army and Air Force have released a ranked list of contractors as part of a Defense Department-wide effort to recognize top-tier companies and hold poor performers accountable.
The Air Force expects to release a request for proposals for a new rocket engine to replace the Russian-made RD-180 by the end of 2015, according to the service's director of space acquisition programs.
The Air Force has yet to determine from which units it will retire 28 C-130H aircraft in fiscal years 2017 and 2018, and a detailed decision is pending the completion of its analysis of recommendations delivered by the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force.
The Air Force's fiscal year 2016 budget request offers a window into its plans to compete Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle missions over the next few years, and provides a boost to several space situational awareness programs aimed at improving the service's ability to safely maneuver in space.
The Air Force is requesting $122 billion in a fiscal year 2016 budget request that preserves funding for its top three modernization priorities -- the KC-46 tanker, the Long-Range Strike Bomber and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- and reverses some, but not all, of last year's controversial force structure proposals, according to a budget plan submitted to Congress and released to the public Feb. 2.
The Air Force has named Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigan as the new head of its service-specific F-35 integration office, effective Feb. 1.
The Air Force has agreed to voluntarily delay its process for reconsidering bids submitted for its Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar program, according to a Jan. 29 U.S. Federal Claims Court filing.
The Air Force confirmed this week that it has awarded the United Launch Alliance a sole-source contract for the first would-be competitive Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle mission, but a spokesman told Inside the Air Force that the service plans to expand the number of launches open to new providers beyond what it had previously planned.
A second round of sequestration in fiscal year 2016 could mean significant cuts to the Air Force's manned and unmanned intelligence assets, the service's chief told Congress Jan. 28.
As demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance coverage continues to grow, the head of U.S. Africa Command said Jan. 27 that his organization is working to be more flexible with the assets it has, and is looking forward to Air Force efforts to increase the endurance and effectiveness of its manned and unmanned intelligence platforms.
The Air Force will re-consider its award to Raytheon for the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar program, after considering protests from competitors Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
Delays to development of the next-generation Global Positioning System's ground segment could have considerable implications for the entire GPS enterprise, according to the Pentagon's top weapons tester.
The Pentagon's top weapons tester said in his latest annual operational testing report that it is unlikely the Air Force and Boeing will develop a revised KC-46 schedule that delivers 18 certified tanker aircraft prior to the start of initial operational test and evaluation.