Boeing took an E-3 AWACS aircraft upgraded with Block40/45 improvements for a successful seven-hour test spin recently, according to an April 12 company release. Boeing calls the upgrade program “the single largest enhancement in the history of the US Air Force E-3 AWACS fleet.”
A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late.