The Air Force remains on track to release a request for proposals for the development and production of a new fleet of presidential aircraft before the end of the year, according to a service official.
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
The Air Force remains on track to release a request for proposals for the development and production of a new fleet of presidential aircraft before the end of the year, according to a service official.
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, SC -- In a joyous but awkwardly timed ceremony, the Marine Corps this week celebrated its lone F-35 training squadron's return to South Carolina -- but a fleetwide grounding that has now stretched into its second week meant no Joint Strike Fighter aircraft have yet been delivered to this base.
The introduction of remotely piloted aircraft into the national airspace has created a need for aircraft like the UH-1N Huey to detect RPAs, according to the commander of the 54th Helicopter Squadron at Minot Air Force Base, ND.
The Pentagon disclosed late on July 3 that the entire Joint Strike Fighter fleet has been grounded as defense officials continue to search for the cause of a June 23 fire aboard a conventional-variant F-35.
Newly minted Combat Rescue Helicopter prime contractor Sikorsky has moved directly into the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase following last week's billion-dollar contract award and is expecting a pair of important reviews within the next six months.
The Air Force this afternoon announced that it has signed a formal contract initially worth more than $1 billion with helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky for development and production of the Combat Rescue Helicopter, formalizing a surprise inclusion in the service's fiscal year 2015 budget request. If all options are exercised, the company could be looking at a windfall of $7.9 billion over 15 years.
Raytheon has defeated Boeing in a competition more than 10 years in the making to provide protected communications terminals to the Air Force.
The Air Force’s most senior nuclear billet may be getting a promotion, bringing Air Force Global Strike Command in line with all of the service’s other major commands.
FT. BRAGG, NC -- Army Special Operations Command is on track to graduate its first crop of C-27J Spartan students pilots this week, marking the end of an unusual journey for seven fixed-wing aircraft that were originally part of an Army program.
The Air Force's sixth Global Positioning System IIF satellite was boosted into orbit on Friday night and should be operational within about 30 days, according to service officials.
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION NEW RIVER, NC -- The Marine Corps and Air Force will have to address a shortage of qualified maintainers -- a longstanding issue within the V-22 Osprey community -- if they hope to increase their student training rates as planned.
An amendment tucked into the House Armed Services Committee's mark-up of the fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill would allow the Pentagon to eliminate 50 nuclear missile silos beginning in 2021, if it so chooses.
The House Armed Services Committee this week demanded that the Pentagon complete a task it has been unable or unwilling to perform for years: spell out which wartime-related expenses will become base-budget requirements, and which will fade away as the conflict in Afghanistan winds down.
The House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee this week criticized the Pentagon's continuing lack of clarity on nuclear command, control and communications operational concepts, epitomized by the department's failure to determine how to support or replace the E-4B National Airborne Operations Center fleet of aircraft.
ATK and Orbital Sciences, two major players in the defense industry's relatively limited space systems sector, announced April 29 that they will merge into a single company.
The Australian government confirmed last night its intent to buy 72 F-35 aircraft or more, depending on the future condition of its F/A-18 Super Hornets.
The Air Force and contractor teams overseeing development of a new tailkit for the B61 nuclear bomb expect to close out issues stemming from a late 2013 review by June, around the same time they will begin a pair of important test sequences on the munition.
The latest Selected Acquisition Report for the Joint Strike Fighter program shows marginal cost growth for F-35 procurement and reductions in cost estimates for life-cycle sustainment, lowering the total projected cost by 2 percent over last year's data -- but still estimating a price tag of $921 billion in fiscal year 2012 dollars.
The Air Force recently told Congress it has just one option -- requiring a range of improvements to meet requirements -- for replacing the innovative Blue Devil 1 intelligence-collection system. Additionally, the service has disclosed that Air Combat Command is almost done with a major study that will identify "capability shortfalls" impacting the service's ability to meet surveillance goals in theater.
The Air Force has yet to settle on a time line for basing F-35A aircraft in the Pacific theater, according to a service spokeswoman, but a congressional delegation with a keen interest in the service's decision expects an announcement in the next several months.