The Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass., has awarded $256 million to Northrop Grumman to proceed with design and analysis of the next-generation wide area surveillance system under the E-10 Technology Demonstration Program. Remember, the E-10 was slated to be the replacement for current-day intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance platforms, like the E-8 Joint STARS and E-3 AWACS, but fell to the budget-driven Quadrennial Defense Review axe. Defense analysts predict the E-10 goes nowhere, but the technology could prove useful elsewhere.
The Air Force has finished resurrecting a B-1B Lancer, completing a yearslong process to transform a bomber that had been stored for parts in the Arizona desert into the new flagship of the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.