Wednesday, May 8, 2024
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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 has provided "bold leadership" in the United States' offensive effort against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria -- and the service's extensive involvement will only increase with President Obama's push for increased strikes to counter the terrorist group, according to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.
Software delays will not likely impact near-term F-35 Joint Strike Fighter initial operational capability targets, but projected schedule slips do present a risk to later program milestones, according to an Office of the Secretary of Defense-led review team.
The Air Force this week will begin the process of repairing two of the 83 F-16D aircraft grounded in late July as a result of cracks discovered in the frame surrounding the jet's cockpit.
The F-35 joint program office plans to announce the locations of the first European and Pacific engine and airframe depot maintenance facilities before the end of the year and will begin its analysis of potential sites later this month.
The Air Force and Pratt & Whitney are very close to determining the root cause of an F-35 engine fire that occurred two months ago and next week will begin to test a near-term solution the service hopes will prevent delays to upcoming milestones.
With a $176 million beddown cost, Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska was not the least expensive of the service's basing options for the first F-35A wing in the Pacific area of responsibility, an Air Force spokeswoman said this week, but its proximity to key training infrastructure made it the most strategic choice.
The Air Force has announced that Eielson Air Force Base, AK, is the preferred alternative to host the first F-35A Joint Strike Fighter squadrons in the Pacific area of responsibility.
With several ongoing program and mission-area analyses in process and not enough near-term funding to dedicate to sweeping architecture changes, the space sector may fall victim to the spending bow wave that Pentagon leaders warn will hit the department in the 2020s if sequestration and other budget cuts continue to push new investments to the right.
The Air Force announced today that it has finalized its selection of Pease Air National Guard Base, NH, as the Guard's KC-46A main operating base.
The Air Force wants to make its future weapon system procurement strategy more agile and its acquisition programs more adaptable, according to a 30-year strategy rolled out on July 30 by top service leadership.
After being postponed three times due to ground system errors and bad weather, Air Force Space Command-4 launched on July 28 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.
An Air Force mission to launch three Space Situational Awareness satellites was scrubbed for the third time on Friday due to adverse weather conditions. The additional schedule change will impact the launch of a Global Positioning System satellite that was to launch on Tuesday.
The Air Force has once again delayed the launch of three space situational awareness satellites slated for July 24 until 6:55 p.m. tonight due to multiple weather concerns.
The Air Force on July 23 successfully launched two previously classified geosynchronous space situational awareness satellites designed to serve as on-orbit watchmen and as deterrents to nations that may be considering launching counterspace satellites.
The Air Force Space Command-4 launch slated for 7:03 p.m. today has been scrubbed due to problems with the ground support equipment environmental control system that supports the launch vehicle.
Boeing absorbed a $272 million hit on the KC-46 tanker program in the second quarter of 2014 due to unexpected engineering challenges, company officials reported during a July 23 earnings call.
The Air Force is considering whether it should increase production of its Delta IV launch vehicle in light of rising tensions with Russia that could pose a threat to space access.
The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee has supported an array of Pentagon weapons programs in its $549.3 billion military spending bill for fiscal year 2015, including the Air Force's fleet of A-10 aircraft; the Army's combat vehicle industrial base; and the Navy's modernization of USS George Washington (CVN 73) and fleet of EA-18G Growlers.
The Air Force announced today that Gen. Herbert Carlisle has been nominated to replace Gen. Mike Hostage as head of Air Combat Command. Carlisle most recently served as commander of Pacific Air Forces.
The Air Force wants permission to reprogram $100 million to support an additional Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-class mission that it expects will be open to competition from qualified companies, according to an omnibus reprogramming document submitted to Congress last week.