Air Force Materiel Command is looking to replace the wings on the service’s aging T-38 trainers. The command issued a sources sought synopsis Tuesday to notify interested contractors of an upcoming buy, which is expected to result in a five to 10-year contract that will call for 12 to 24 wings per year. The service expects to replace the T-38 Talon, first produced in the 1960s, with a new trainer, dubbed the T-X, that will reach initial operational capability by 2024. (See also: Pilot Training for the Future from the September 2016 issue of Air Force Magazine)
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.