Saturday, April 27, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- Boeing is weighing whether to slow the Long Beach, CA, C-17 Globemaster III production line to keep its cargo hauler procurement effort alive should Air Force orders slow down or pause, according to a senior company official.
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- Joint Cargo Aircraft prime contractor L-3 Communications could meet a potential Air Force Special Operations Command C-27 gunship order and keep its current Army-run program on track, according to a senior industry official.
Pumping Up the Herc: Lockheed Martin will begin installing stronger center wing boxes on its C-130Js, according to Jim Grant, the company's air mobility and special operations vice president.
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- Lockheed Martin, Alliant Techsystems and Northrop Grumman have signed a teaming agreement to develop a next-generation multirole weapon for the fifth-generation F-22A Raptor and F-35 Lightning II fighter jets, the trio announced this morning.
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- Northrop Grumman could have three Airbus A330 system design and development aircraft built and ready for tanker modifications by the time the Pentagon awards the multibillion-dollar KC-X contract.
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- Lockheed Martin's super-secret advanced systems development shop is developing futuristic technology that could one day outfit the fifth-generation F-22A Raptor and F-35 Lightning II fighters.
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing plan to ramp up V-22 Osprey production to nearly 30 tiltrotors per year by 2010.
Take that: With its boom fully extended, the EADS Airbus A310 tanker test bed made several low-level passes this morning.
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- Defense industry titans Boeing and Lockheed Martin are likely to go toe-to-toe for the rights to build the Air Force and Army's next-generation intratheater airlifter, according to senior officials with both companies.
LONDON -- Engine maker Pratt & Whitney has discovered what caused a developmental F-35 Joint Strike Fighter engine blade to crack last year and identified a design change that officials are hopeful will fix the problem.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates today nullified an Air Force decision to award a $35 billion refueling tanker contract to Northrop Grumman, opting instead to reopen the bidding. Gates' decision comes in the wake of a damning Government Accountability Office review that found the service botched several portions of the deal.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is reviewing options as to how the Pentagon will proceed with its high-profile next-generation taker contract in the wake of a damning congressional watchdog report that heavily criticized Air Force acquisition officials' methods for choosing a Northrop Grumman-EADS aircraft.
Three Kansas Republicans want Defense Secretary Robert Gates to immediately overturn the Air Force's decision to award a $35 billion contract to Northrop Grumman and European partner EADS.
SEBRING, FL -- Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England has officially notified Air Force leadership of the Pentagon's plans to freeze the service's planned end strength reductions.
At the time of their firings last week, outgoing Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley were contemplating the creation of a Strategic Air Command-like structure to oversee the service's entire nuclear arsenal, Inside the Air Force has learned.
The Air Force needs to strike a balance in its purchases of new fifth-generation fighter aircraft, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen said today.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has nominated U.S. Transportation Command chief Gen. Norton Schwartz -- a mobility pilot -- to become the next Air Force chief of staff, an unprecedented move for a service that since its creation has been run by fighter and bomber pilots.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today he will immediately curtail the Air Force's planned 40,000 personnel draw-down.
Following several high-profile public scandals involving nuclear weapons and contracting abuse, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley have resigned, Inside the Air Force has learned.
The Defense Department has laid out a monthly milestone system for the Joint Strike Fighter program, in which the prime contractor Lockheed Martin will be fined $10 million every month it is behind schedule, the Pentagon's top weapons-buyer told lawmakers today.