The mission capable rates achieved by F-35s across all users have increased sharply, thanks mainly to more parts in the pipeline, more rapid repair of parts at depots, and reliability and maintainability investments by the Defense Department and its industry partners on the program, Pentagon ...
Air
The years-old idea of an “arsenal plane,” a flying munitions truck that could accompany fighter jets and unmanned aircraft into battle, is now adapting to include the Air Force’s new technology pursuits. As the Air Force evolves its thinking on the prospect of an arsenal ...
New suppliers have been found for all but a dozen of the 850 parts Turkey is now making for the F-35, and most of the work is going to Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney, company and program officials told a House Armed Services panel ...
The F-35 is making progress but still faces major hurdles with its logistics system, intellectual property, supply chain, and more, officials overseeing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program told lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Nov. 13. Program leadership laid out a path to turn one ...
The Air Force’s only undergraduate remotely piloted aircraft training center was redubbed “Crawford Hall” in honor of WWII pilot Ollie Crawford, an Air Force Association charter member who went on to lead the organization as national president and chairman, in a Nov. 13 ceremony at ...
American forces killed a terrorist affiliated with the al-Shabaab group in a Nov. 12 airstrike, US Africa Command announced. The strike was part of an ongoing partnership with the Somali government to “maintain pressure on al-Shabaab’s network and levels of leadership while countering violent extremist ...
One way the Air Force could come up with the $30 billion it says it’s shifting from “legacy” systems to urgent new priorities would be to retire eight major aircraft, including two bomber fleets, according to Todd Harrison, writing for the Center for Strategic and ...
The Air Force’s pursuit of a light attack aircraft may split into two separate tracks: one that continues down the road to procurement and another that looks into new options for armed overwatch, USAF acquisition boss Will Roper said Nov. 12. Special operations forces have ...
US-managed airstrikes in Afghanistan dropped in October but rose in Iraq and Syria, according to new data published by Air Forces Central Command. In Afghanistan, the number of airstrikes by manned and unmanned platforms dipped from 948 in September to 777 in October. In Iraq ...