Inside the Air Force highlights

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

1. General Atomics is pushing the Air Force to consider recapitalizing its MQ-9 Reaper fleet rather than retrofitting Block 1 aircraft that have exceeded their service lives, a proposal the Air Force seems willing to pursue, a company official told Inside the Air Force this week.

Full story: General Atomics: USAF considering MQ-9 recap to carry fleet into 2040s

2. The Air Force recently released its new energy flight plan that details efforts to improve energy resilience over the next 20 years in an evolving threat environment, and the officials who helped craft the plan expect its mission-driven focus will allow it to endure through the new presidential administration.

Full story: USAF expects energy flight plan to gain support from new administration

3. Boeing will not recommend any new service-life requirements for the legacy Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System as a result of its now-complete widespread fatigue testing, the Air Force said this week.

Full story: USAF: No new requirements from Boeing's JSTARS fuselage study

4. The Air Force has delayed until August plans to begin initial operational testing of the latest phase of a $1.5 billion project to give the F-22A Raptor a ground-attack capability, shifting the evaluation milestone for an F-22 Increment 3.2B modernization program previously slated to commence during the third quarter of fiscal year 2017 to the summer, according to a service spokesman.

Full story: Air Force now eyes August to begin key testing of latest F-22A upgrade