The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command tapped BAE Systems to apply a situational awareness and targeting upgrade to some 100 A-10A aircraft. The Air Force does plan to upgrade all Warthogs to the full precision engagement upgrade C model, but in the meantime some Hogs are getting various “interim” upgrades. According to a BAE Systems release, this modification will “improve pilot awareness” of friendly ground force locations and “reduce pilot workload by automatically transferring target coordinates within the aircraft’s internal systems and to other aircraft on the network.”
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.