The Air Force is changing how it develops and buys certain munitions by using "weapons design agents," an approach that lets the service own technical data and broadly compete production contracts.
Friday, April 26, 2024
Friday, April 26, 2024
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Rachel Cohen was managing editor for Inside the Air Force until January 2019. She previously covered the public health insurance marketplaces for Inside Health Policy and primary, secondary and higher education at the Frederick News-Post in Frederick County, Maryland. She graduated from American University in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in international studies and journalism.
The Air Force is changing how it develops and buys certain munitions by using "weapons design agents," an approach that lets the service own technical data and broadly compete production contracts.
U.S. Air Forces Europe won't have the equipment for its first rapidly deployable air base until the early 2020s -- at least two fiscal years after the service thought it would own five such kits, according to a new report by the Pentagon's inspector general.
The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board will formally launch its fiscal year 2019 studies in a closed meeting on Jan. 23 in Irvine, CA, according to a Dec. 28 Federal Register notice.
The Air Force is pulling together technologies to incrementally create a system that can counter encroaching unmanned aerial systems, rather than waiting for a complete solution to be ready.
The military on Wednesday suspended an Air Force effort to find an off-the-shelf laser prototype for base and aircraft defense, according to an Army notice.
The team in charge of the Air Force's new Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Flight Plan is working with the Air Staff's strategic plans and programs branch to see how the ISR strategy released earlier this year could affect the future force structure, a service spokesman recently confirmed to Inside Defense.
Raytheon this week received a $141.4 million low-rate initial production contract to build 1,260 Small Diameter Bomb II munitions, the Defense Department said Tuesday evening.
Lessons learned from the Air Force's first multidomain command-and-control wargame last month are now helping shape the fiscal year 2020 budget as well as its experimentation priorities, according to the service's operations director.
The Air Force will not release a final request for proposals for a light-attack aircraft acquisition program in 2018, despite earlier expectations the solicitation would come out this month, a service spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday.
Lockheed Martin announced Tuesday it has met the criteria needed to declare early operational capability for its Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile on the Air Force's B-1B bomber.
The Air Force will consider how it uses spare parts for the MQ-9 Block 5 aircraft when projecting future requirements, in response to a Defense Department inspector general finding that the service has thousands of excess Reaper parts in its inventory.
Operational testing for UTC Aerospace Systems' MS-177 multispectral sensor has been delayed by more than a year because issues with other programs impacted the sensor's developmental test schedule, the Air Force told Inside Defense this week.
A fledgling directed-energy effort aims to create a ground-based laser prototype that can protect bases from airborne threats before scaling it up to fly on an aircraft, according to an Air Force request for solutions this week.
BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, CA -- The commander of the 9th Maintenance Squadron wants to piggyback on the Defense Innovation Unit's artificial-intelligence work to improve sustainment for Lockheed Martin's U-2.
President Trump has nominated Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, the Air Force's military deputy for acquisition, for a promotion to become the next four-star head of Air Force Materiel Command, the service said Wednesday.
The Air Force will consider whether its maintenance crew at Robins Air Force Base, GA, can eventually replace Northrop Grumman as the depot provider for the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System.
The Air Force announced this month it had approved a milestone C decision for the B61-12 tailkit assembly program in late October, clearing the way for production.
Defense experts in Washington say Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' vision may conflict with Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson's recent remarks that the service can't continue its current level of effort in the Middle East while properly executing the National Defense Strategy, but that greater funding and new programs could bridge the apparent divide between their perspectives.
BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, CA -- High-altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft -- particularly Lockheed Martin’s U-2 Dragon Lady -- can serve as a bridge to the next generation of reconnaissance aircraft by acting as a test truck for new sensors, according to the commander of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing here.
BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, CA -- As tensions flared between the United States and North Korea over nuclear proliferation last year, the 9th Reconnaissance Wing saw an opportunity to ask: Are we ready to go to war somewhere new?