Sunday, December 8, 2024
Recognizing adversary drone swarms as "the most significant threat at this time," the Pentagon is aiming to unify the military around a cohesive approach to address the challenge now and in the future, according to a Thursday DOD news release.
Part of the Air Force's mobility fleet will be tapped to receive a fresh connectivity suite, dubbed the Global Transport Platform-as-a-Service, as early as the end of calendar year 2024 or spring 2025, Inside Defense has learned.
The fate of the Air Force's embattled Next Generation Air Dominance platform will now be determined by the Trump administration, the service indicated today.
The Air Force has not wrung out all the wrinkles in its new force generation model which seeks to change the way the service deploys to be better prepared to deter China in a potential conflict, according to the government's top watchdog.
The possible ascendance of Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) to the chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee could be a turning point in Air Force modernization efforts as the ranking member has pushed for boosting the existing topline for national defense spending by billions of dollars to ensure legacy and new platforms can rule the air domain.
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft designs created by Anduril Industries and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems have completed their critical design reviews, a top Air Force official said today.
The Air Force today accepted Merlin’s airworthiness plan to add its autonomous pilot to an operational KC-135 Stratotanker, putting the project on track for ground testing, flight testing and other demonstrations in 2025, according to a company news release.
The Air Force is focused on 13 technical research areas to get its munitions portfolio on par with advancements in air dominance, including advanced control actuation systems, autonomy and improved aircraft integration, according to a broad agency announcement the service posted today.
Year after year, long-term continuing resolutions have strangled the defense budgetary process, which Air Force officials say is exhausting time that could have been spent on advancing capabilities and blurring the service’s vision about what it might need to maintain superiority over the nation’s adversaries.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and BAE Systems are working together to build autonomous electronic warfare functions for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, GA-ASI announced today.
The Space Force posted its annual request for National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 proposals, offering new companies the chance to enter the vendor pool for these launch services.
Boeing unfairly charged the Air Force for 12 out of 46 C-17 Globemaster spare part items, including a 7,943% markup for lavatory soap dispensers, according to a report the Pentagon's inspector general released today.
The Air Force wants to deploy low-collateral-effects interceptor technologies against small unmanned aerial systems in future battles, according to a request for information issued today.
Defense manufacturing giant Boeing is again hemorrhaging money, but CEO Kelly Ortberg says the company can pivot back to prior success via better discipline in its "tough contracts" and a focus on risk management in future ones.
Aeronautics sales for defense prime Lockheed Martin fell nearly 3% in the third quarter of 2024 -- from $6.7 billion to $6.5 billion -- compared to one year earlier, the company told investors today, attributing the loss directly to contractual and technical issues on its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
The Pentagon's costliest weapon system has yet again fallen below Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps mission-capable rate goals, due partly to ongoing challenges with depot and organizational maintenance, according to the government's top watchdog.
Since January, a contingent of Air Force Sustainment Center officials have traveled to Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines to forge early partnerships for the service's new Global Enterprise Network for Universal Sustainment, Inside Defense has learned.
A requested $1.5 billion in spare parts funding could make all the difference in reinvigorating the Air Force's ailing depots and make space for technical innovation, a top sustainment official said, but without it, several key operational initiatives the service has put in place to rival China will not have enough juice to reach the finish line.
The Air Force Research Laboratory is beginning to chart a path toward unpiloted aerial refuelers and transport aircraft, Lt. Col. Jonathan Gilbert, AFWERX Prime division chief, said last week, creating potential future options the service can use to quickly automate its fleet.
The Air Force Research Laboratory is interested in developing autonomous capabilities for analyzing operations and directing courses of action to uncrewed aircraft, according to a request for information issued today.