Vanessa Montalbano

Vanessa Montalbano joined Inside Defense as an Air Force reporter in January 2024. She previously reported on climate change and energy politics for The Climate 202 newsletter at The Washington Post.

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Daily News | August 15, 2024

The F-35 Joint Program Office will not pursue a performance-based logistics contract with Lockheed Martin next year, but "the [Defense] Department will continue to assess and seek to award the best contracting strategy for F-35 sustainment, to include PBL type arrangements where advantageous," according to a defense official.

Daily News | August 15, 2024

The Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft will not only pair with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the Next Generation Air Dominance platform, but also the F-15EX Eagle II, F-22 Raptor and platforms from other services or allies, according to a top Air Force official.

Daily News | August 13, 2024

Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics will come together to develop and produce solid-rocket motors in a bid to improve the nation's crippling domestic supply chain for the energetics systems that power most of the Pentagon's munitions, according to an announcement issued today.

Daily News | August 13, 2024

The Air Force is planning to approve low-rate initial production for its T-7 Red Hawk trainers on an incremental basis as it deals with long-term developmental delays, according to Kevin Stamey, the Air Force's program executive officer for mobility and training aircraft.

The Insider | August 12, 2024

The Air Force's weapon systems and subsystems will now go through HII-run depots for some repair or maintenance work, according to an announcement the company issued today.

Daily News | August 8, 2024

Unmanned fighter jets could be fielded "way" before the end of the decade, or the Air Force's planned timeline for operating Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Brandon Tseng, co-founder and president of ShieldAI, told Inside Defense.

Daily News | August 6, 2024

The Air Force is setting its sights on modernized counter small unmanned aircraft systems fitted with modular machine learning algorithms, the latest command and control technology and more capable sensors and effectors, according to a recent request for information.

Daily News | August 5, 2024

The Senate Appropriations Committee wants to bulk up the Air Force's fleet by giving the service an additional $3.4 billion to make about 500 more aircraft available as lawmakers and the Pentagon weigh priorities to deter Russia and China, according to a report accompanying Senate appropriators' version of next year's defense spending bill.

The Insider | August 5, 2024

Boeing on Friday delivered the first production MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter to the Air Force, months after the program's per-unit costs grew enough to breach Nunn-McCurdy law, according to a company news release issued today.

Daily News | August 2, 2024

A CV-22 Osprey crash last year off the coast of Japan is linked to a severe failure of one of the aircraft's gearboxes as the crew was preparing for an emergency landing, killing the eight airmen on board, according to an Air Force investigation released Aug. 1.

Daily News | August 1, 2024

The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved a defense spending bill that would inject the Air Force's Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion efforts with $280 million above the service's fiscal year 2025 request, according to legislative documents.

Daily News | July 31, 2024

DAYTON, OH -- The embattled KC-46A Pegasus tanker is now dealing with seven issues that could result in significant damage to the air vehicle or death of an operator, Kevin Stamey, the Air Force's program executive officer for mobility and training aircraft, told reporters Tuesday.

Daily News | July 30, 2024

DAYTON, OH -- The Air Force's next-generation refueling fleet may come down the line sooner than previously expected, and with greater capability, after a potential injection from the service's quick-start authority in fiscal year 2025, service Secretary Frank Kendall said today.

The Insider | July 30, 2024

Like families often do, the Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems has recently found itself in turmoil, with the Air Force now reconsidering its original vision for the sixth-generation fighter to ensure it is well-suited against evolving threats in the Indo-Pacific.

Daily News | July 30, 2024

DAYTON, OH -- A mix of five traditional and non-traditional businesses have received contracts to develop the mission autonomy for the first increment of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Air Force Brig. Gen. Jason Voorheis, program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft, said Monday.

The Insider | July 25, 2024

Greece today signed a formal deal to purchase 20 F-35A Joint Strike Fighters, making it the 19th country to fly the fifth-generation aircraft, according to an announcement from plane-maker Lockheed Martin.

Daily News | July 25, 2024

Like families often do, the Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems has recently found itself in turmoil, with the Air Force now reconsidering its original vision for the sixth-generation fighter to ensure it is well-suited against evolving threats in the Indo-Pacific.

Daily News | July 23, 2024

As the Pentagon seeks to arm the tri-variant F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with StormBreaker precision-strike glide bombs, RTX subsidiary Raytheon today revealed the weapon performed at “a 100% success rate on 14 of 14 planned jettisons from the F-35C,” according to a company news release.

The Insider | July 23, 2024

Pratt & Whitney sent the first F100 engine to Poland this year to support the country's fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcons, according to a company news release issued today.

Daily News | July 19, 2024

Lockheed Martin today delivered the first two F-35 Joint Strike Fighters fit with a truncated version of the Technology Refresh-3 upgrade, officially lifting the Pentagon's year-long pause on accepting new jets despite the software still facing outstanding issues, according to a statement issued by the F-35 Joint Program Office.

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