Lt. Col. Dirk Smith, commander of the 94th Fighter Squadron at Langley AFB, Va., and Maj. Kevin Dolata, flew the squadron’s first two new F-22A stealth fighters to the Air Combat Command base from Lockheed Martin’s Marietta, Ga., production facility on March 3 The 94th FS flew its final F-15 flight in December 2005 and expects to be ready to deploy operationally with the F-22A by May 2007. Lockheed is delivering two aircraft per month to the 94th.
Bell Textron has won DARPA's contest for a no-runway, high-speed drone that will prove out technologies useful for special operations forces and possibly the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment concept. Bell's design converts a tiltrotor to a jet-powered aircraft able to fly at up to 450 knots.