Saturday, April 27, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
A panel tasked with providing recommendations to Congress on what the structure of the Air Force should look like met earlier this week to discuss the role that airpower will play in post-Afghanistan national security situations.
The Defense Department will give seven Air Force C-27J Spartans to U.S. Special Operations Command, leaving only 14 aircraft in the service's fleet -- a number too small to meet the needs of two other federal agencies that have have expressed an interest in obtaining some of the divested cargo airplanes.
The Air Force is preparing to give a North Dakota county government the right to build a technology park for unmanned aircraft at Grand Forks Air Force Base, ND.
The Air Force has begun issuing guidance to the leaders of its major commands on how to support ongoing contingency and critical training operations during a lapse in appropriations, which includes details on a plan to return some of the service's squadrons to the air following a brief stand-down.
Alaska's delegation is touting what it sees as a win over the Air Force's attempt to move a fleet of F-16 fighter jets across the state and close Eielson Air Force Base after the service agreed to scrap the move.
A commission tasked with making recommendations on the Air Force's force structure has canceled its plan to visit Barksdale Air Force Base, LA, this week due to "uncertainties surrounding the potential shutdown of the U.S. Government," according to a Sept. 30 commission statement.
The Air Force has issued guidance for a potential government shutdown should Congress fail to pass an appropriations bill or approve of a continuing resolution by midnight Monday, when fiscal year 2013 expires.
Within the next few days, Germany will have to decide whether to pump additional funds into its Euro Hawk program to keep flying its sole demonstrator unmanned aircraft, or stop flying the airplane.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- As of next month, the Afghan air force will have an increased ability to transport cargo, provide combat support and conduct rescue missions, allowing the nascent service to move "hundreds if not thousands of more people and supplies than they can today," a senior Air Force official said today.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Air Force is looking at taking a step back from the specialized pilot training that it began investing in back in the 1990s and reverting to generalized pilot training -- a move that would call for the purchase of additional advanced trainers, known as the T-X aircraft.
Northrop Grumman expects to finish developing new software designed to improve the ability of the Air Force's Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft to collect signals intelligence data and the company will deliver that software to the service by early 2014.
A commission tasked with making recommendations on the structure of the Air Force is examining the possibility of manning nuclear facilities with members of the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard.
The Air Force has begun training Royal Saudi air force pilots to fly joint missions with the United States military and the service expects to complete the first round of instruction by the end of 2014, according to the subcontractor tasked with overseeing the education program.
The Air Force will equip its MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft with additional fuel tanks and heavyweight landing gear to allow the planes to spend more time in the air.
The commander of one of the Air Force's largest bases will address a growing list of delayed projects as soon as a Defense Department-wide furlough, which has forced DOD civilian employees to reduce their hours and pay, ends for the most part next week.
The Senate Appropriations Committee is recommending that the Air National Guard be given $35.7 million to cover a funding shortfall that, if neglected, would make it difficult for the Guard to stand up six unmanned aircraft squadron operations centers.
Acting Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning today will tour a Pennsylvania base that the service attempted to remove aircraft from and mark for closure last year.
The National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force should recommend that the Air Force run a test that would allow Congress to see how the service would function with a different mix of active-duty and reserve airmen, according to a retired Air Force general who testified before the commission today.
A panel of experts has kicked off a tour of about a dozen Air Force locations to further determine how the service can be altered to meet future missions and funding challenges.
The Senate wants the Defense Department to "integrate and rationalize" isolated attempts the Air Force and other DOD organizations have made to advance a wide-area motion-imagery (WAMI) capability so that further progress can be made toward fielding the technology on unmanned aircraft, according to a recent Senate report.