Sunday, May 12, 2024
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 Self-Protect High-Energy Laser Demonstrator program is moving through preliminary design reviews for the laser weapon's subsystems and is on track to conduct a low-power system PDR in spring 2018, an Air Force spokesman said this week.
The reconciled version of the fiscal year 2018 defense policy bill, released Nov. 9, directs the Air Force to submit its analysis on why the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System recapitalization program should change or end and how doing so would impact the military.
The Long-Range Standoff Weapon program office has developed a technical approach called "design for reliability and manufacturing" to ensure the multibillion-dollar nuclear cruise missiles won't fail if used.
The Air Force is planning its technology investments following the yearlong Enterprise Capability Collaboration Team study on multidomain command and control and is preparing to launch multiple data-focused experimentation campaigns, the service's military deputy for acquisition said this week.
Air Force Air Combat Command is reorganizing to ensure it can hit the ground running when the service approves a merger between the 24th Air Force, which oversees cyber operations, and the 25th Air Force, which handles intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, ACC's intelligence chief said this week.
The Air Force is planning which technologies it will invest in as a result of the yearlong Enterprise Capability Collaboration Team study on multidomain command and control, and is preparing to launch multiple data-focused experimentation campaigns, the service’s military deputy for acquisition said this week. (UPDATED)
Officials at Robins Air Force Base, GA, are mulling how 16 E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft could be used in high-end operations as the Air Force decides whether to scrap plans to recapitalize the fleet in the mid-2020s.
Air Force Distributed Common Ground System managers are working to award a new contract to upgrade interoperability software known as the DCGS Integration Backbone, to codify its agile software development and extend the contract cycle from three to five years.
The Air Force plans to pursue a program of record in its fiscal year 2021 budget request for its AgilePod, a system that allows an aircraft to quickly add and change out sensors for different missions, a service spokesman said this week.
The Defense Department will ask Congress to reprogram $28.2 million for the Air Operations Center Weapon System pathfinder, shrinking the request by about $8 million after previously sought funding expired in September.
The Air Force is restructuring how it manages remotely piloted aircraft forces to reflect the needs of an MQ-9 Reaper fleet that has nearly quadrupled in size and spread to support multiple geographic combatant commands over more than two decades.
The Air Force is in the early stages of an acquisition program to add the Mark 21A re-entry vehicle to the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, according to a recently released request for information.
Sikorsky passed a critical design review for its Combat Rescue Helicopter's training systems last month, allowing the program to progress to assembly, test and evaluation, the company announced this week.
An Air Force "tiger team" is determining how to further cut acquisition costs, schedule and performance risks for the Presidential Aircraft Recapitalization program, according to service spokeswoman Capt. Emily Grabowski.
Defense analysts say the Air Force's reconsideration of what should follow the legacy E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System is driven by the strategy and budget concerns of a new slate of Pentagon leaders, who worry key command-and-control aircraft could be shot down by advanced foreign adversaries.
Sierra Nevada Corp. and Embraer Defense and Security announced Wednesday they will build six more A-29 Super Tucanos for Afghanistan's fledgling Air Force, bringing the fleet to a total of 26 jets.
The Air Force is awaiting further guidance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense on how many retired pilots the service can recall as instructor pilots and staff officers and for how long, following an executive order signed by President Trump Oct. 20.
An Air Force Air Combat Command spokeswoman said this week the command is laying the groundwork for an Advanced Battle Management System analysis of alternatives to decide a way forward for the service's battle management and command-and-control missions.
The Air Force will experiment with the idea of replicating parts of its air warfare organization across cyber and space, as part of the service's ongoing study of multidomain command and control.
The Air Force plans to send Congress another reprogramming request to fund the Air Operations Center Weapon System pathfinder, after a previous request was deferred and ultimately expired this fall.