Raytheon expects to demonstrate new target-recognition technology developed under Air Force Research Lab sponsorship this fall in the laboratory, leading to a flight evaluation next spring aboard a Raytheon test aircraft, the company said in a May 14 release. The company aims to show that software designed under its Air-to-Ground Radar Imaging II program would permit manned or unmanned aircraft equipped with current radar technology to detect, track, and target hostile forces in motion on the ground while operating from standoff distances of more than 50 miles away.
The Pentagon’s fiscal 2026 defense budget, submitted to Congress last week, accelerates the downsizing of the U.S. Air Force. It proposes divesting 340 aircraft, while only acquiring 76. These cuts risk the Air Force’s ability prevail. “Peace through strength” has...
