U.S. Navy Lt. Daniel "Crib" Armenteros, piloting an F-35C Lightning II assigned to Naval Air Station China Lake's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9), conducts the first live-fire test of an AIM-120 missile released from an operational Joint Strike Fighter. The advanced medium-range air-to-air missile was released from the aircraft's internal weapons storage bay over a controlled sea test range in the Pacific Ocean as part of efforts by the 412th Test Wing and Joint Operational Test Team at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Air Force photo by Christopher Okula.
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Almanac: Weapons & Platforms
June 1, 2020
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Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
A detailed guide to the aircraft, aerial target systems, weapons systems, and satellite systems in USAF and USSF inventory.
Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
Some U.S. personnel are evacuating Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, America’s main military base in the Middle East, as President Donald Trump is weighing military action against Iran in response to its crackdown on protestors, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
As the Space Force moves forward with plans to modernize its weather satellite architecture, it’s working closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to share data and leverage the agency’s modeling and validation tools, officials told lawmakers in a Jan. 13 hearing.
With the first operational T-7A trainer jet in hand, Air Force leaders are already looking ahead to how the Red Hawk will fit with the service’s plans for sixth-generation aircraft.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth foot-stomped the Pentagon's push for acquisition speed and contractor accountability in a Jan. 12 speech at Lockheed Martin’s production hub in Fort Worth, Texas—the heart of the department’s biggest acquisition program, the F-35.
The Space Force recently awarded SpaceX $739 million to launch nine missions for the Space Development Agency and National Reconnaissance Office over the next three years. Five of the awarded launches will be to build out SDA’s constellation of missile warning and tracking satellites in low-Earth orbit.
U.S. aircraft launched airstrikes against forces identified with the Islamic State group Jan. 10 as part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, a retaliatory campaign in response to the killing of three American troops last month.
For the Air Force and Space Force, an influx of additional resources could be an opportunity to accelerate a massive modernization portfolio and ramp up aircraft and satellite production, defense analysts and former officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
Lockheed Martin says it delivered 191 F-35 fighters in 2025—just ahead of the goal it set for itself at the beginning of the year as it works to clear a backlog of jets in storage.
The Department of the Air Force announced seven new mission area-focused portfolio acquisition executives for the Air Force and Space Force, some of the department's first steps to implement Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's sweeping acquisition reforms.
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