The Air Force has awarded Boeing a $49.5 million contract to integrate the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System into 145 F-15E aircraft, the company announced March 24. Installation in the first F-15E is expected in October 2008, with contract completion in December 2010, Boeing said. “When this contract is implemented, JHMCS will be integrated on F-15C, D, and E aircraft,” said Phil King, Boeing’s JHMCS program manager. This agreement is the ninth production contract for JHMCS, which is used in F-15s, F-16s, and Navy F/A-18s.
When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine described the 150 aircraft used in Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he referenced many by name, including the F-35 and F-22 fighters and B-1 bomber. Not specified, however, were “remotely piloted drones,” among them a secretive aircraft spotted and photographed returning to Puerto…

