Retired Lt. Col. Robert L. Riedenauer, who flew development aircraft such as the SR-71 and U-2 while in the Air Force and later, as a Lockheed Martin test pilot, the F-117 stealth fighter, died at age 70 on April 23 at his home in Palmdale, Calif. The Associated Press reports he had fought a long battle with cancer. The City of Lancaster, Calif., inducted Riedenauer into its Aerospace Walk of Fame in 2002.
Raytheon, a division of defense giant RTX, recently announced a multiyear deal with the Pentagon to increase annual production of the Air Force’s primary dogfighting missile by more than 50 percent from two years ago.
