The Air Force is asking industry and academia to tender some suggestions for lightening the weight and reducing the footprint of its combat support resources to make them more rapidly deployable. Air Force Materiel Command’s Air Armament Center issued a sources-sought notice last week, hoping to elicit some ideas for the Fiscal 2010 budgeting cycle. It wants “information on systems, tactics, and techniques that require less intertheater airlift and fewer personnel to support, erect, and maintain operations.” And, it wants “viable” concepts that could mature within the near-term (2010-2015), mid-term (2016-2025), or far-term (2026-2035) for functional areas ranging from aeromedical evacuation to maintenance and munitions and public affairs. The push is on because “present combat support resources are aging and are quickly becoming technically obsolete.”
Celebrating 100 Years of Liquid-Fueled Rockets
March 11, 2026
March 16, 2026, marks 100 years since Dr. Robert H. Goddard launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket. Over the past century, new and ever more capable liquid-fueled rockets have literally propelled humanity into space. Why liquid-fueled rockets?