Thursday, May 2, 2024
Key Issues Budget 'parity' Summer CUAS demo EW in Ukraine
President Bush today announced he has accepted the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, with a senior Democrat saying the embattled Iraq war architect is expected to remain in office until his replacement garners Senate approval.
Boeing needs the Air Force to include a dozen additional C-17 airlifters in its fiscal year 2008 budget blueprint to keep the Globemaster production line humming until the end of this decade, company officials said today.
The Air Force has completed the conversion of a C-130J contract with Lockheed Martin from a commercial deal to a traditional defense procurement pact, the service announced today.
The Air Force today released a draft request for proposals that asks the industry teams bidding for the service's multibillion-dollar KC-X contract to provide the most details to date about the planes they will enter in the competition.
The Air Force late yesterday awarded Science Applications International Corp. a $26 million contract to design a second space-based missile warning satellite as part of the Alternative Infrared Satellite System program.
The Air Force has awarded Raytheon a $54 million contract to design a missile warning satellite that could be sent into orbit instead of the third geosynchronous platform once planned under the troubled Space Based Infrared System program. And in a twist, the service says it also might seek a second design for the Alternative Infrared Satellite System effort.
Boeing today moved to scuttle its C-17 airlifter production line in 2009 when it told the program's 700 suppliers to cease work on all Globemasters for which the defense giant has yet to find a probable buyer. Still, one senior company official stressed, "this decision is reversible."
The Air Force today formally kicked off a long-anticipated effort to replace its KC-135 tanker fleet, asking industry to weigh in on medium and large tankers that could meet the military's aerial refueling needs.
Pentagon acquisition executive Kenneth Krieg has directed the Air Force to launch a multibillion-dollar program to replace its aging KC-135 aerial tanker fleet.
The Air Force will conduct its own assessment of the military's intratheater airlift requirements rather than adopt the findings of an Army study, as the two services merge their formerly disparate lift programs, Inside the Air Force has learned.
Senior Air Force officials have identified a broad list of needs -- including billions for aircraft acquisitions and upgrades -- excluded from the service's fiscal year 2007 spending request, according to documents obtained by InsideDefense.com.
Shifting combat search and rescue-focused aircraft and personnel under Air Combat Command will elevate CSAR operations to "primary mission" status and speed the process of dispatching platforms for such tasks, service Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley told Inside the Air Force today.
The Pentagon's top uniformed leader today said the United States remains "a long way" from taking military action against Iran, and instead called for greater diplomatic and economic pressure to ensure Tehran complies with its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Air Force has opted against purchasing a fourth Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite -- a decision based on input from the military's combatant commanders, two Pentagon officials said today.
Air Combat Command officials have determined the F-22A Raptor has achieved a critical program milestone and is certified for combat missions across the globe, according to the Air Force's top combat commander.
The military's four-star transportation chief today said he would prefer keeping Boeing's C-17 production line "warm" after the final Globemaster is built -- giving the Air Force "insurance" if the service is unable to keep an ample number of C-5 airlifters flying.
The Senate late last week confirmed Michael Wynne as the secretary of the Air Force -- but the former Pentagon acquisition official has not yet been sworn in.
The Federal Trade Commission has for a second time asked Boeing and Lockheed Martin for information on a joint entity that would manufacture expendable launch vehicles for the U.S. government, the companies announced yesterday.
Pentagon officials have secured agreements with "eight to 10" South and West African nations that would allow the U.S. military to temporarily use facilities there to launch missions, the U.S. European Command chief told InsideDefense.com yesterday.
NATO members have agreed to a command structure that lays out the functions each country will carry out once the alliance takes over stability operations in Afghanistan, the supreme allied commander in Europe said today.