Monday, May 6, 2024
Key Issues Budget 'parity' Summer CUAS demo EW in Ukraine
The United States is training Australian airmen to operate the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper and five airmen are already stationed at Holloman Air Force Base, NM, to receive pilot and sensor operator instruction, the Australian government has announced.
The exact number of new nuclear-tipped weapons the Air Force will build through the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent and Long-Range Standoff Weapon programs could change depending on future treaty negotiations with Russia, according to a Pentagon official.
The head of Air Force Special Operations Command wants to eventually mount a high-energy laser and microwave energy gun on the command's newest AC-130 gunship and perhaps a new capability that could "bar-code" targets from the air.
The Air Force and Navy's newest precision-attack munition, the Small Diameter Bomb II, could soon enter low-rate initial production after the prime contractor, Raytheon, successfully completed the final flight tests required for a milestone C decision.
Unmanned military aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds like the RQ-11 Raven and RQ-21 Blackjack would gain more routine access to national airspace for training and defense support of civil authorities activities under draft regulations being proposed by the government.
ORLANDO, FL -- SpaceX could be certified to conduct national security space launches by the end of February, and a wide-ranging review of the new entrant certification process is expected to take another 90 days, according to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.
ORLANDO, FL -- Air Combat Command chief Gen. Herbert Carlisle believes the Air Force can muster the 300 to 400 F-35 maintainers it needs to declare the first Joint Strike Fighter unit at Hill Air Force Base, UT, operational in 2016, but growing the operational fleet beyond the numbers required for that initial unit be will far more difficult since the A-10 attack aircraft community remains the primary source for those technicians.
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 intends to place an order with Raytheon for up to 49 high-definition multispectral targeting systems for the MQ-9 Reaper, according to a Feb. 3 notice on the Federal Business Opportunities website.
The State Department has cleared the sale of remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance aircraft to the Netherlands, according to a Feb. 6 Defense Security Cooperation Agency notice.
The Air Force's procurement and force-structure strategy for fiscal year 2016 repositions the service to meet today's wartime needs by replenishing munitions stocks and retaining the capacity of in-demand capabilities such as the E-8 JSTARS, E-3 AWACS and U-2, according to the service's chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements.
The Defense Acquisition Board has shifted its planned milestone A briefing on the Air Force's Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System Recapitalization program to March 11 due to inclement weather in the Boston area, according to a Feb. 6 notice to industry.
The United States can ill afford to delay nuclear modernization any longer and even in an austere budget environment as peer rivals like Russia "show off" their updated nuclear forces, according to the head of U.S. Strategic Command.
The first Norwegian F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is scheduled for delivery this fall, with the aircraft designated AM-1 entering the final stages of the manufacturing process at Lockheed Martin's production facility in Fort Worth, TX, according to a Feb. 6 Norwegian Ministry of Defense press statement provided by the prime contractor.
The Air Force and Navy have requested billions of dollars in additional spending for new nuclear weapons programs in the fiscal year 2016 budget request, including more than $2.7 billion over five years to replace the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile and Air-Launched Cruise Missile.
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 chosen Boeing's 747-8 airliner over the Airbus A380 as the next presidential aircraft, the service announced Jan. 28.
As the Air Force and Navy invest more in high-end combat training systems, Rockwell Collins is snapping up small research grants and conducting proof-of-concept demonstrations that would overcome some of the technical and security challenges associated with blended live, virtual and constructive training.
Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Larry Spencer is calling on the scientific community to deliver the type of technological surprise seen during the First Gulf War in Iraq, when smart bombs and stealthy aircraft dominated the skies and changed the nature of warfare.
The Air Force plans to award Sierra Nevada Corp.