Northrop Grumman has successfully tested its new LN-120G stellar navigation system on USAF’s RC-135 Rivet Joint, electronics intelligence aircraft. The Air Force has contracted for 30 of these new systems, which should enable the RC-135 mission crews to accurately pinpoint hostile targets and transmit the data to E-8 Joint STARS ground radar aircraft, and ultimately, directly to fighter aircraft. Northrop expects to deliver the first units this year.
Happy Birthday US Air Force: 78 Today
Sept. 18, 2025
Seventy-eight years ago today, on Sept. 18, 1947, Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Vinson swore in Stuart Symington as the first ever Secretary of the Air Force, and the Air Force officially became the first new military service since the Revolutionary War.