Thursday, May 9, 2024
The Air Force would defer the purchase of up to 24 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft over five years if one of its fiscal year 2015 acquisition plans, which accounts for full sequestration in each year, is enacted, the service's acting secretary said this morning.
The Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center says it remains on track to announce a critical decision on the long-delayed Family of Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals program this quarter, despite the negative impact that sequestration and a government shutdown have had on so many service acquisition efforts.
The Air Force's senior civilian acquisition official informed Congress two weeks ago that the service came within 24 hours of having to break a fixed-price contract during the recent government shutdown, without naming the program.
The White House today announced the nomination of Bill LaPlante, the Air Force's principal deputy acquisition executive, to take over the long-vacant position of service acquisition executive.
The director of Sandia National Laboratories informed Congress today that technical risks on an $8 billion nuclear bomb modernization program are well under control, but that lawmakers' inability to undo sequestration or pass a full fiscal year 2014 budget is endangering the program's ability to stay on cost and schedule.
The probable competition for the Air Force's next-generation bomber program was clarified significantly today as Boeing and Lockheed Martin announced they would team together to bid on the Long-Range Strike Bomber.
Senior Air Force officials today told members of Congress that long-term budget cuts imposed by sequestration and the disruptive nature of continuing resolutions could lead the service to a dramatic reduction in force of 550 aircraft and 25,000 airmen.
A top-level Pentagon review board on Monday will examine the multibillion-dollar Joint Strike Fighter program with a major topic of discussion being the cost of maintaining the aircraft through its lifetime, a figure that is now pegged at $1.1 trillion.
Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, the commander of 20th Air Force, is being fired due to a "loss of trust and confidence" in his command, according to the Air Force.
Air Force officials have expressed their satisfaction with the performance of a commercial aircraft representing the new KC-46 refueling tanker in early live-fire testing, which will extend into 2015, and the results of that test have not led to any design changes to date.
The F-35 joint program office is stopping work on an alternate, lower-risk Joint Strike Fighter helmet being developed by BAE, committing fully to a next-generation helmet that until recently was considered one of the program's biggest risk items.
A nearly billion-dollar acquisition program to support the Defense Department's leading intelligence organization for information about foreign airborne threats, held up all summer because of a protest, is back on track and only minimally affected by the ongoing government shutdown.
The Air Force today announced long-awaited, relatively low-value contract awards to Raytheon and Boeing for the Family of Advanced Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminals program that will keep both companies working toward production until the service chooses between them.
In response to the Pentagon's weekend announcement that the majority of its civilian employees will be able to return to work despite the ongoing government shutdown, Lockheed Martin has withdrawn furlough notices to some of its employees, the company announced today.
The Pentagon on Monday awarded engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney a contract for spare parts with a multibillion-dollar ceiling that the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines can all utilize -- one of many notable contracts handed down on the final day of fiscal year 2013.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) has blocked the confirmation of a new Air Force secretary until the Air Force responds to her concerns about a capability gap should the service choose to move forward with plans to divest its entire A-10 fleet.
A new Government Accountability Office report on the Pentagon's long-term nuclear weapon modernization plans urges greater collaboration between the Air Force, Navy, Energy Department and Nuclear Weapons Council and calls for a cost estimate of the follow-on system to the Air Force's Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile.
In a surprise move, South Korea's government has decided to cancel its competition for a new fighter aircraft and re-evaluate its options and requirements. Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle was the sole remaining candidate in the competition and was expected to be named the winner of a $7.7 billion deal this week.
The F-35 joint program office should within weeks receive initial results from a business-case analysis of the program's long-term sustainment strategy.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Air Force would be unwise to transfer its personnel recovery mission from Air Combat Command to Air Force Special Operations Command, despite the uncertainty surrounding recapitalization of ACC’s search-and-rescue helicopter fleet, according to its commanding officer.