The Pentagon’s $715 billion budget request aims to increase research and development, with a key focus on what is needed in the Indo-Pacific, and it will chop old aircraft to do it. The Biden administration’s first budget request, released May 28, includes the biggest total ...
Rapid Acquisition & Sustainment
The Air Force didn’t effectively oversee the development of the KC-46’s refueling boom, leading to additional delays and costs and a lingering deficiency that prevents the tanker from refueling some USAF aircraft, according to a new Pentagon watchdog report. The Defense Department Inspector General, in ...
Top Department of the Air Force leaders told lawmakers May 7 they need to divest aging aircraft to make room for more advanced systems, setting up a now familiar budget fight on Capitol Hill. “America cannot wait to modernize the Air Force any longer, not ...
The 916th Air Refueling Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, on April 30 received the Air Force’s 45th KC-46 Pegasus. Boeing had missed multiple deadlines to deliver the tanker in the weeks beforehand. The KC-46, tail number 18-6055, brings the wing’s total ...
Boeing reported its sixth straight loss in its first-quarter earnings report April 28, including a new charge on the Air Force One replacement program. However, Boeing Defense saw increased revenue, spurred largely by new KC-46, P-8, and V-22 contract awards. Company CEO David L. Calhoun ...
The F-35's program director promised Congress an F-35 sustainment strategy this summer, but said it's unlikely he'll achieve the elusive goal of $25,000 cost per flying hour by 2025. Negotiating three one-year sustainment deals is a "carrot" to get a better deal from Lockheed Martin ...
Connecting the Dots We can’t see all of the dots. … We have an inability to see everything. … We as U.S. Cyber Command or the National Security Agency may see what is occurring outside of the United States, but...
As the Globemaster III racks up its 4 millionth flight hour, planners ready upgrades and begin to imagine what comes next. The Air Force’s 222 C-17s are the major portion of a global fleet of 275 aircraft flown by nine nations, including an international consortium. ...
The second F-15EX Eagle II arrived at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., on April 20, this one with a different tail flash than the first. The new F-15, number 20-002, touched down with the “OT” tail flash used by the 53rd Wing at Eglin. This ...
