Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Air Force officials have green-lighted transitioning a squadron of F-15Cs to a primary training site as part of their fiscal year 2014 budget request in an effort to help close a service-wide shortfall in fighter pilot production.
The Defense Department plans to move ahead with a scheduled ballistic missile test launch in late May, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs Madelyn Creedon told Congress today.
The Air Force says the classified program to build a new Long-Range Strike Bomber -- estimated to cost at least $55 billion -- remains "on track" despite the Pentagon seeking nearly a third less than expected for the top-priority project in fiscal year 2014.
A top Air Force official said today that the high levels of demand and funding for resupply and transport services in Afghanistan likely will keep the Air Force's mobility units from budget-driven groundings.
The Air Force has requested a topline budget of $144 billion, and a "blue" operational budget of $114 billion for fiscal year 2014, to continue funding top priorities like the Joint Strike Fighter and KC-46 tanker programs.
The Precision Tracking Space System is one of the highest-profile casualties of the Defense Department's fiscal year 2014 budget request, with DOD officials citing high cost and risk in announcing the missile defense program's cancellation today.
Air Force officials this week went a long way toward defining the terms of a competition for sustaining missile-warning equipment that is set to take place in 2014 by detailing the contracting strategy and conflict-of-interest standards the service plans to use for the acquisition, known as SMORS.
The Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center this week disclosed the price paid so far for the development of the Family of Advanced Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminals program -- more than $1.7 billion.
The leaders of the House Armed Services Committee today announced their picks for nominations to the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force. Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) and Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) each selected individuals who recently left government service.
F-35 program officials cleared the last three Joint Strike Fighter aircraft to resume flying in early March, two days after the rest of the fleet had its stand-down lifted, and are putting in place a process to ensure engine blade cracks do not occur in the future.
President Obama today announced his four nominations to serve on the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force, which will evaluate and recommend changes to the way the active-duty Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard interact and execute their missions.
The Air Force's fifth Wideband Global SATCOM satellite will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, on May 8, service officials announced today -- four months later than originally scheduled.
The Defense Contract Management Agency has formally approved a plan by Lockheed Martin to fix deficiencies in its earned value management system, a business tool used to track cost and schedule on major programs, clearing the way for Lockheed to resume collecting payments that have been withheld for months.
The Air Force has surpassed its goal of reducing fuel consumption by 10 percent several years ahead of schedule, two senior service officials said today.
The general tasked with leading the Air Force's segment of the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review said this morning that the QDR will have important strategic value to the service and the Defense Department regardless of the budgetary and force structure questions DOD is dealing with.
Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall this week stressed the vital importance of strong leadership in making acquisition programs succeed, but he said the Air Force has not been heavily affected by years-long vacancies at the top of its acquisition executive ranks.
Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall said this week that his staff is directing a re-think of the way the Defense Department uses some of its contracting methods to ensure they are not overused or too vaguely defined, as has been the case with "lowest price, technically acceptable" contracting.
The Joint Strike Fighter's program executive officer and the Pentagon's top acquisition official today cautioned against reading too much into criticism leveled against the program in a February testing report, calling that criticism premature and out of context.
The Joint Strike Fighter's program executive officer this week outlined major management changes made on the F-35 over the last several years, among them bringing in service experts to lead design review boards and making technical data available to program partners that should never have been kept from them.
The Defense Department today awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth more than $300 million to buy long-lead parts for Lot 8 of the Joint Strike Fighter program, hours ahead of sequestration's implementation date.