When the Air Force and Northrop Grumman developed the T-38 training jet in the mid-1950s, they lacked access to digital engineering tools. There were no advanced virtual models of the aircraft’s design, nor high-speed computing technology to test aerodynamic characteristics early in the development process. A lot has changed in seven decades. When the service awarded Boeing a $9.2 billion contract in 2018 to replace the aging training jet with the T-7 Red Hawk, the company’s decision to heavily rely on new design and manufacturing techniques made the program the poster child for the potential of digital engineering.
Ramping up production and deployment of new autonomous systems and software could be one of the few acquisition options available to the Defense Department to preserve the force and replace combat losses during a future war of attrition, according to a top service official. There has long been concern about the capacity of the Pentagon and defense industrial base to produce platforms and regenerate other capabilities at a rate that would meet the U.S. military’s equipment needs during a large-scale conventional war against an advanced adversary.
Boeing is no longer participating in Skyborg, which is centered on developing a suite of artificial intelligence-driven systems designed to fly various future autonomous unmanned aircraft, according to the U.S. Air Force. However, the company is still conducting work related to the MQ-28 Ghost Bat, one of which is now in the United States, with an eye toward pitching it to the service as part of future advanced drone initiatives.
Norway finally has a plan to get an American CV-22 Osprey that’s currently stuck on a nature reserve. The tiltrotor aircraft has been stuck on an island in the northernmost part of Norway for almost a month. The plan is still waiting on approval from the U.S. Air Force and is dependent on the weather in a notoriously unpredictable part of Norway, according to a spokesperson for the Norwegian Air Force.
U.S. and British personnel joined a Royal Australian Air Force crew to train on the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft as part of a multinational air combat exercise in northern Australia. Speaking to the press during a visit to RAAF Base Tindal, detachment commander Squadron Leader Adam Paull of 2 Squadron, which operates the Australian E-7As, said the aircraft flew alternately in support of both blue and red air missions at the exercise as well as performing overall airspace control and management at Exercise Pitch Black.
The Defense Department released an updated policy document that recognizes space “as a priority domain of national military power” and formally adopts rules for safe operations in space. DOD Directive 3100.10, “Space Policy,” was signed Aug. 30 by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen H. Hicks. It replaces a previous space policy document issued in 2012 and updated in 2016. The newly updated policy is the first one that lays out the roles of DOD’s space organizations that didn’t exist until 2019, including the Space Force, U.S. Space Command, and the assistant secretary of defense for space policy.
Enlisted Airmen who work in some of the Air Force's most difficult jobs will receive from $900 to $5,400 less annually beginning in October as the service faces financial challenges that affect the ranks. Hundreds of service members will see cuts to their Special Duty Assignment Pay, known as SDAP, in fiscal 2023—which starts Oct. 1. Those monthly payments, ranging from $75 to $450, were an extra incentive "to compensate enlisted service members who serve in duties which are extremely difficult," according to budget documents.
“We are in an exceptionally challenging civil-military environment. Many of the factors that shape civil-military relations have undergone extreme strain in recent years. … Looking ahead, all of these factors could well get worse before they get better. In such an environment, it is helpful to review the core principles and best practices by which civilian and military professionals have conducted healthy American civil-military relations in the past—and can continue to do so, if vigilant and mindful,” write eight former Secretaries of Defense and five former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in an open letter.
Over the past year, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has made it clear that “Loyal Wingman”-style combat drones, partnered with stealth fighters such as the F-35 or its yet-to-be-revealed sixth-generation fighter, will be a key element of the service’s future tactical aircraft inventory. But big questions still remain: Will the service begin what Kendall has called a “collaborative combat aircraft” program of record in the upcoming fiscal 2024 budget? How many types of drones will it seek to procure? And what role will these novel aircraft play on future battlefields?
While various arms of the Pentagon are working on hypersonic prototypes that are years away from actual test flights, the department’s Defense Innovation Unit is betting that the development of an actual hypersonic test aircraft can help speed development and lower costs of new weapon systems—while reducing reliance on the few capable wind tunnels currently available. DIU also hopes to overcome the shortfalls of current land- and sea-based flight test ranges that cannot support rapid turnaround testing, resulting in long lag times in development.
The schools that top the list support veterans as they transition from the military to college life, offering veteran-specific orientations, coaching professors in working with student veterans, and providing veteran-specific mentoring. But the top-ranked schools also help veterans navigate a second transition: from college to full-time careers.