Up to four companies could prove their directed-energy weapons can protect military bases against small unmanned aerial vehicles in an experiment this fall that will help shape a potential acquisition program, the Air Force said this week.
Key Issues Replicator 1.2 Foreign-made drones DOD climate policy
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.
Up to four companies could prove their directed-energy weapons can protect military bases against small unmanned aerial vehicles in an experiment this fall that will help shape a potential acquisition program, the Air Force said this week.
Air Force Global Strike Command is addressing nearly 50 recommendations issued by a new advisory group created last year to improve the health of the nuclear enterprise, according to written testimony the four-star general in charge of AFGSC submitted to the Senate this week.
A fledgling effort to put a high-power laser on the new AC-130J gunship requires about $92 million in total to develop and field an offensive weapon by the early 2020s, the head of Air Force Special Operations Command told lawmakers this week.
Several projects underway to improve Raytheon's Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile are taking longer than expected, and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program's complexity is spurring changes to the weapon as well, the Pentagon said in a December 2017 Selected Acquisition Report.
Boeing will further its designs for the Air Force's next presidential aircraft fleet under a new $24.1 million contract awarded this week.
The Air Force is defending the performance of its MQ-9 Reaper following a fiscal year 2017 report by the director of operational test and evaluation that showed the remotely piloted aircraft still faces radar system deficiencies.
The Air Force's acquisition chief recently notified lawmakers of progress made on six prototyping programs during the second half of 2017, according to a March 24 letter Inside the Air Force reviewed this week.
As the Air Force overhauls its nuclear command, control and communications enterprise, an analysis of alternatives starting later this year will explore how to jointly replace the E-4B National Airborne Operations Center and the Navy's smaller E-6B.
The Air Force increased Boeing's contract for the Joint Direct Attack Munition program by $311.8 million, the Defense Department said April 2.
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Gorgon Stare, the Air Force's sensor program of record for wide-area motion imagery mounted on MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft, will receive a limited slate of upgrades in the near future but isn't currently expected to grow across the Reaper fleet, the service recently reported to Congress.
One Thunderbirds pilot died April 4 when his F-16 fighter jet crashed during a routine aerial demonstration training flight at the Nevada Test and Training Range, according to the Air Force.
A Boeing KC-46 again successfully refueled a second KC-46 to meet another certification milestone for fuel on-load testing, the company announced this week.
BAE Systems this week filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office, arguing it is better qualified than Raytheon to serve as the operations and sustainment contractor for the Air Force's Cobra Dane radar system.
Five Air Force procurement programs saw cost swings of more than $1 billion over the last year, and 24 of the service's systems shrank by $2.5 billion in aggregate, the Defense Department said this week.
The Air Force, in its ongoing deep-dive study of electronic warfare and the electromagnetic spectrum, is considering non-material solutions as part of its analysis and could start implementing them by next spring, according to an update to an earlier request for information.
The Air Force's formal report to congressional defense committees on its new plan for replacing the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System offers more insight on how it views the roles of the MQ-9 Reaper, RQ-4 Block 40 and other assets in a future battle management network.
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson this week pointed to additional actions under way to make the service's requirements-building, acquisition and regulatory processes more integrated and flexible.
The Air Force tells the Senate Armed Services Committee in a recent report it is technically possible for the service to flight test two intercontinental ballistic missiles at once but that doing so wouldn't be operationally feasible.
The Air Force has repurposed $4.8 million from fiscal year 2016 to buy 30 B61-12 tailkit assembly trainers in FY-18, after a series of continuing resolutions threatened the program's progress earlier this year, a service spokeswoman recently confirmed.