The Department of the Defense and the military services want to take more control over the massive F-35 sustainment enterprise—and are required by law to do so in 2027—but they lack a detailed plan to do so and should reassess their approach to key parts ...
Rapid Acquisition & Sustainment
Speed is surpassing cost and performance as the top priority in Air Force acquisition, and the upcoming Air Force reorganization will put high focus on it, service acquisition chief Andrew Hunter told reporters at AFA's Air, Space and Cyber conference.
The Air Force wants to keep the competition for its Collaborative Combat Aircraft program open for as long as possible but will eventually choose a contractor to integrate the air vehicle, autonomy, and mission systems of the $5.8 billion program.
The Pentagon plans to field thousands of drones in the sea, in the air, and possibly on land to counter the large size of China’s military under its new Replicator Initiative. And the Department of Defense’s No. 2 official insists the DOD needs no new ...
The Space Development Agency successfully launched 13 small satellites into orbit Sept. 2, more than doubling the size of “Tranche 0” of its planned constellation in low-Earth orbit. And while it only took three years from contract award to launch for this latest batch—breakneck speed by ...
The F-15EX shot one JASSM during a recent exercise, bringing to a close the first phase of its hybrid/combined initial operational and developmental test effort. New aircraft are to be delivered in the coming weeks, and a full-rate production decision is expected soon after.
A collection of quotes on airpower, spacepower, and national security issues.
Despite sending more than $43 billion in military aid to Ukraine—both lethal and non-lethal—the U.S. is not “running out” of any particular munitions or equipment needed for its own forces, Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief William LaPlante told attendees at a defense conference in Washington, ...
Through a new effort called the Replicator Initiative, the Department of Defense is seeking to rapidly expand its capacity through relatively inexpensive autonomous systems. And the DOD wants those systems fast—in the “volume and velocity required to deter aggression or win if we’re forced to ...