Inside the Air Force highlights

Some must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Air Force:

1. The Air Force appears to be moving forward with a drawn-out effort to develop airborne satellite communication terminals as part of its Family of Advanced Beyond Line of Sight Terminals program, releasing a justification document late last month that details its plan to sole-source the effort to Raytheon.

Full story: USAF to award Raytheon contract for airborne FAB-T terminals in early 2019

2. The Air Force is changing how it develops and buys certain munitions by using "weapons design agents," an approach that lets the service own technical data and broadly compete production contracts.

Full story: Air Force using 'weapons design agents' to develop, buy certain munitions

3. The team in charge of the Air Force's new Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Flight Plan is working with the Air Staff's strategic plans and programs branch to see how the ISR strategy released earlier this year could affect the future force structure, a service spokesman recently confirmed to Inside Defense.

Full story: ISR Flight Plan group working with force structure team on future platform mix

4. An Air Force team is crafting a study on live, virtual and constructive training concepts meant to inform near-term budget and strategy around how to improve training for fifth-generation aircraft.

Full story: Air Force team developing options for greater LVC training integration