HASC Chairman’s Mark Hits Development Programs

Though the markup session is due to kick off Wednesday, the “chairman’s mark” of the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act was released Monday with cuts to two of USAF’s top three procurement priorities. The mark authorizes $515 billion in spending...

Pratt Says GAO, IG Don’t Tell Whole Story

Reacting Monday to two damning reports about the F-35 fighter’s engine—one fro?m the Government Accountability Office and one from the Pentagon Inspector General—Pratt & Whitney defended the F135 engine as doing well, but merely suffering from the ups and downs...

IG Report Dings Pratt’s F135 Quality System

A Pentagon Inspector Ge?neral report released Monday said more oversight is needed on the Pratt & Whitney quality management system, after inspections of two plants turned up 61 “nonconformities,” or violations of regulations, on the F135 engine program, which powers...

JPO Says No

The F-35 System Program Office agrees with the facts but not the conclusions of a Monday Pentagon Inspector General report on the F135 engine. The report said an inspection showed Pratt & Whitney needs more oversight from the program office...

US, Japan Agree to Updated Defense Guidelines

The US and Japan reached an agreement on updated US-Japan Defense Cooperation guidelines for the first time since 1997, officials announced April 27. The agreement, which marks the first major revisions since Japan lifted its constitutional ban on “collective self...

Global Opportunity for US-Japan Alliance

Geography is a defining theme and one of the biggest differences between the new US-Japan Defense Cooperation guidelines and those included in the last change in 1997, said Defense Secretary Ash Carter during Monday’s rollout. US-Japan security cooperation has gone...

Andersen Global Hawks to Escape Storm Season in Japan

JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii Three RQ-4 Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft assigned to Andersen AFB, Guam, will once again deploy to Misawa AB, Japan, to escape the summer storm season, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey McDaniels, director of air and cyberspace operations...

Fourth X-37B Flight to Test Hall Thruster

The fourth X-37B reusable space plane will carry a Hall thruster experiment onboard, according to an April 27 release. The experiment—a collaboration between the Air Force Research Laboratory, Space and Missile Systems Center, and the Rapid Capabilities Office—will “enable in-space...