Inside the Air Force highlights

A few must-reads from this week's edition of Inside the Air Force:

1. The Air Force is modifying two RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft to host critical surveillance payloads -- including sophisticated legacy sensors that provide national-level intelligence data but are currently available only on the U-2 Dragon Lady -- a bid to support its plan to retire the high-flying, Cold War-era manned spy plane later this decade.

Full Story: USAF modifying two RQ-4s to carry U-2 payloads; first flight set for spring

2. The Air Force will push the award of a key F-22 helmet upgrade from fiscal year 2017 into FY-18 to better align the capability with a larger Raptor modernization program.

Full Story: F-22 helmet-mounted cueing system award now expected in FY-18

3. The Air Force has suspended an effort to reduce its infrastructure footprint by 2020, as its wave of modernization programs take priority in the budget over funding for facility renovations, according to Air Force logistics officials.

Full Story: Air Force shelves 20/20 initiative in wake of reduced facilities funding

4. Lockheed Martin is working with the F-35 joint program office to craft a proposal to integrate the Joint Strike Fighter's full mission simulators with the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps' virtual training environments and expects to be on contract next year.

Full Story: Lockheed expects F-35 virtual simulator integration contract in early 2016