We reported the QDR-2007 budget demise of USAF’s E-10 all-in-one ISR platform (all but a test aircraft) and the Airborne Laser. It seems USAF leaders decided they also could do without the Electric B-52. Defense analyst Loren Thompson says the Air Force now thinks a B-52 jammer would not make a suitable mate for strike aircraft. (Just a few months ago, the service was poised to name an industry integrator.) USAF wants a “faster, more survivable” bird, says Thompson, adding that the new likely contender is a modified F-15E.
An Air Force instructor pilot died early in the morning on May 14 from injuries sustained when the pilot’s T-6A Texan II training plane ejection seat activated during ground operations the day before, the 82nd Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, announced.