Thursday, May 9, 2024
The Air Force has completed initial operational test and evaluation for the F-15 Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System, which will provide upgraded electronic warfare capabilities to the fighter jet on schedule, according to a news release from EPAWSS manufacturer BAE Systems.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's sustainment price tag is slowly dropping after being one of the Defense Department's costliest combat aircraft for decades, the F-35 Joint Program Office told Inside Defense.
The Air Force is planning to use a study intended to inform requirements for the Next Generation Air-refueling System to also help set guidelines for a follow-on tanker recapitalization program, Inside Defense has learned.
The Air Force is asking Congress for $3.5 billion to cover unfunded priorities mostly related to the service's recently announced structural shakeup to better prepare for conflict with a near-peer adversary, according to a document obtained by Inside Defense.
The Air Force is again asking Congress to retire legacy aircraft the service deems no longer fit for combat with a near-peer adversary, including China, according to an initial package of legislative proposals sent to Congress this week.
The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is on track for a $277 million increase to procure an additional three aircraft as Congress seeks to boost the Air Force's overall aircraft procurement, according to the fiscal year 2024 defense appropriations package released today.
Congress wants to funnel even more money into the Air Force's Advanced Engine Development program via a $280 million plus up in a looming fiscal year 2024 appropriations bill, according to documents released by lawmakers Thursday. (UPDATED)
The Air Force on Sunday completed its final planned test for Lockheed Martin's AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon but hasn't said whether the test was successful, according to a statement the service sent to Inside Defense Wednesday.
The Pentagon is calling on the Defense Science Board to investigate the nation's ability to locate and attack deeply buried adversary targets, such as bunker and tunnel facilities, according to a recent memo from Heidi Shyu, the defense under secretary for research and engineering.
Lawmakers have yet to agree on a fiscal year 2024 appropriations bill, threatening to undo a significant amount of the Air Force's planned multiyear missile procurement for FY-25, a top service official said at the Pentagon Monday.
The KC-46A Pegasus' Remote Vision System 2.0 will "likely" arrive in 2026, slipping past its proposed arrival date of October 2025, Air Force acquisition head Andrew Hunter told lawmakers Tuesday.
The Air Force is pushing the milestone C decision for the T-7 Red Hawk training jet back by four months, from February to May 2025, according to justification documents attached to the fiscal year 2025 budget request.
The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter today received approval to enter milestone C, or full-rate production, marking a final step for what has become one of the Defense Department's most cost-intensive and delayed programs.
While the fiscal year 2025 budget request includes what Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall called "tough decisions" to balance procurement and research, development, test and evaluation funds, the service's real budgetary challenges will come in future years.
The Air Force is cutting total procurement of F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets by six, from 104 aircraft to 98, according to the service’s fiscal year 2025 proposed budget.
Delays in getting the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter reconfigured with Block 4 and Technology Refresh 3 upgrades are inhibiting the Air Force’s ability to “stay competitive,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told reporters yesterday at the annual Washington conference hosted by McAleese and Associates.
As the Air Force envisions a future fighter fleet, it wants to divest aging Block 20 F-22 Raptor jets to instead fund the modernization of more recent F-22 configurations, top service officials said today.
The Air Force will reveal this summer how it plans to fill the gap period between the end of production for current KC-46A tankers in 2028 and the planned delivery of the Next Generation Air Refueling System in the late 2030s, a senior service official said today.
In the coming days, the Air Force will release an installation infrastructure action plan to bolster bases against energy-related vulnerabilities, such as cyberattacks and extreme weather events, a senior service official said today.
The Air Force Research Laboratory on Wednesday flew General Atomics Aeronautical Systems' XQ-67A autonomous sensing aircraft for the first time, paving the way for "other aircraft 'species' to be rapidly replicated," the service said in a news release.