Sixty Royal Air Force airmen participated in RC-135 Rivet Joint upgrade training at Offutt AFB, Neb., according to base officials. The training took place in mid-April and included classroom instruction, working with a simulator, and flying in the latest version of the RC-135, states a May 22 Offutt release. The United States is providing three Rivet Joint electronic eavesdropping airplanes to the RAF under a foreign military sale. The Brits are scheduled to receive the first airframe later this year and have all three aircraft in place by 2018, according to the release. In the interim, since 2011, RAF airmen have flown on more than 1,100 RC-135 missions and accrued more than 20,000 hours in the air on US Rivet Joints. The upgrade training was meant to bring the RAF personnel up to date with the RC-135 configuration that they will operate. (Offutt report by Ryan Hansen) (See also Friendly Review.)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.