The Northrop Grumman-EADS North America team vying to produce the Air Force’s next aerial refueling aircraft says it is “ready immediately” to begin production. The team has just completed final airframe assembly on the first developmental KC-30. The aircraft would be ready for military modification in late November, according to a Northrop release. Boeing has offered its 767 aircraft for the KC-X competition, for which USAF expects to award the contract in October.
The Space Force is playing midwife to a new ecosystem of commercial satellite constellations providing alternatives to the service’s own Global Positioning Service from much closer to the Earth, making their signals more accurate and harder to jam.
