The Boeing-Leonardo team that's building MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters to patrol the military's intercontinental ballistic missile silos will deliver three remaining test aircraft to the Air Force in the coming months.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Sara Sirota was an associate editor for Inside the Air Force until April 2021. Previously, she reported for The Hill and The Cazenovia Republican. She has a master's degree in security studies from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and a bachelor's degree in political science from Colgate University.
The Boeing-Leonardo team that's building MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters to patrol the military's intercontinental ballistic missile silos will deliver three remaining test aircraft to the Air Force in the coming months.
Lawmakers are voicing concern that the Air Force's fiscal year 2021 plan to divest from legacy drone programs before next-generation platforms are ready could leave a gap in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities -- putting the service on the defensive as budget negotiations ramp up.
The Skyborg program office plans to release a solicitation to buy vehicles for experimentation this month, on the path toward achieving the imagined artificial intelligence-enabled, autonomous unmanned aerial system that can function as a "force multiplier" for manned aircraft.
The Air Force is moving toward finishing closeout negotiations for the canceled Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon and performing a new flight test of the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon this summer.
The Defense Department is asking lawmakers to grant the Air Force secretary the authority to pay for military construction projects needed to modify Minuteman III launch centers for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent using the new system's fiscal year 2021 research and procurement funds.
While the U.S. Air Force continues research and development of low-cost attritable drones, Boeing and the Royal Australian Air Force Tuesday rolled out the first prototype of their Loyal Wingman, moving closer to achieving an operational, autonomy-enabled "force multiplier" for the global defense market.
The Air Force is asking lawmakers to approve a $216.7 million reprogramming that includes a $131 million funding shift for the Advanced Battle Management System and $25 million for Agility Prime, according to a new reprogramming document acting Pentagon Comptroller Elaine McCusker signed today.
The Air Force's fiscal year 2022 budget proposal will commit funding to Agility Prime -- a new effort to accelerate and adopt technology in the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) industry, according to service acquisition executive Will Roper.
Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden said the contract to develop the Air Force's Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, expected to be awarded during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020, may be signed one or two months early.
Boeing faces a charge of $168 million on the VC-25B Air Force One replacement program as a result of "engineering inefficiencies" associated with the coronavirus pandemic, the company revealed in a filing today. (UPDATED)
The Air Force is starting a new air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile program that looks to capitalize on the maturity of scramjet technology, expand the small hypersonics industrial base and diversify mission sets available to operators.
The COVID-19 pandemic is presenting new challenges for the Air Force's defense cooperation efforts -- from reviewing arms sale requests to moving supplies overseas and transporting aircraft through American bases.
The Pentagon's hypersonics "war room" is closely tracking how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the supply chain, especially smaller companies that make key components supporting the technology, according to a senior defense official.
The Air Force's chief of staff said today the Government Accountability Office lacked critical information about the service's plans for the Advanced Battle Management System in a report the congressional watchdog published last week that harshly criticized the program's strategy.
Regular testing of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile system is continuing on schedule amid the COVID-19 national emergency, with the next launch of an unarmed ICBM planned for August.
The Air Force will stop funding Lockheed Martin's risk-reduction work for the Long-Range Standoff Weapon program, after announcing last week it had chosen Raytheon's design, and is looking at ways to speed up the program's schedule.
The Air Force's F-16 program office is finalizing a contract worth up to $62 billion with Lockheed Martin to provide foreign partners a standard version of the advanced Block 70/72 Viper variant -- starting with Morocco and Taiwan.
The Air Force has decided to proceed with Raytheon as the sole-source prime contractor for the Long-Range Standoff Weapon, the service announced April 17.
The Air Force signed an $800 million deal with Boeing last month for 23,000 upgraded Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kits -- many fewer than previously planned so the service can instead buy more advanced weapons that support the National Defense Strategy.
Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper said Thursday he is meeting with Congress twice a week to discuss how to support the service's wide-ranging COVID-19 relief efforts -- from transporting personal protective equipment to mitigating industrial base impact to making it easier for officials to work on classified projects from home.