Aviation Mishaps Not Linked to Flying Hours, Service Officials Say

Military service witnesses told a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing they do not see a correlation between hours of flying time and air accident rates. They pointed instead to other factors, such as changes in operational tempo, which they believe are linked to such mishaps. Read the full story by Steve Hirsch.

Pompeo: Joint Exercises Will Resume if North Korea Stops Acting in “Good Faith”

The suspension of joint US and South Korean exercises, announced by President Trump following his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, could quickly be resumed if North Korea stops acting in “good faith,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. Trump said following the summit in Singapore that US exercises with South Korea are expensive and “provocative,” and that they will be suspended as part of negotiations for Kim to end his nuclear program. Pompeo, speaking after meeting with South Korean officials in Seoul, said he wants North Korea to make major nuclear disarmament progress before 2020. North Korean state media said Wednesday that Trump had agreed to remove sanctions and put forth a step-by-step approach to denuclearization, but Pompeo pushed back saying that claim should be “heavily” discounted, according to The Associated Press. —Brian Everstine

Air Force Earns 165 Medals During Warrior Games

The 39 members on team Air Force were awarded a total of 165 medals, including 70 gold, 56 silver, and 39 bronze, during the 2018 Air Force-led Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Colo. Air Force track and field athletes SrA. Brett Campfield, SrA. Heather Carter, MSgt. Ken Guinn, Capt. Rob Huffed II, and Lt. Col. Julie Walker broke Warrior Games records, according to a USAF release. SrA. Rafael Morfinencisco received second place in the Ultimate Champion competition while USAF Maj. Stacie Shafran received fourth place. Both athletes competed in a total of eight events. Air Force Magazine interviewed Shafran and Campfield in the lead up to the games, which were held June 1-9. Read our story, which will appear in the September issue of Air Force Magazine.

Pratt & Whitney Hoping to Speed Engine Development with “GatorWorks” Effort

NEW YORK—Pratt & Whitney is aiming to break the 10- to 20-year engineering and development program cycle for military engines with its “GatorWorks” prototyping development effort, a key company official said here Tuesday. Pratt & Whitney Military Engines President Matthew Bromberg, in an interview during a company-sponsored press visit to the firm’s Brooklyn headquarters, said the firm’s customers have asked it to embrace technologies that have emerged outside the defense world, such as agile software development and 3-D printing. He described the GatorWorks effort as giving the company’s team “what we think is the best of both worlds,” combining Pratt & Whitney’s existing technologies and innovative techniques from elsewhere—companies such as 3-D design firms and rapid prototyping companies. —Steve Hirsch

Lockheed Picks Raytheon for F-35 Distributed Aperture System

Lockheed Martin announced Wednesday it picked Raytheon to produce the newest Distributed Aperture System for the F-35. The system, which was previously manufacturered by Northrop Grumman, will collect real-time imagery, using six infrared cameras around the aircraft, sent to the pilot’s helmet. The system will be integrated beginning in Lot 15 of aircraft production, scheduled to begin delivery in 2023. It is projected to save more than $3 billion over the jet’s life cycle, with approximately a 45 percent reduction in unit recurring cost and more than a 50 percent reduction in operations and sustainment, Lockheed claims in a news release. —Brian Everstine

Draken Adversary Air Squadron Stands Up at F-15 Schoolhouse

The Air Force’s F-15 schoolhouse has a new squadron, a contracted group of L-159Es flying adversary “Red Air” for training. Draken International stood up an adversary air squadron at Kingsley Field in Oregon, and will fly as adversaries for the next six weeks, according to a Kingsley release. The squadron’s Honey Badger L-159Es will be temporary until a longer-term contract is awarded. “It’s definitely smaller than the F-15 that you see flying around on any given day, but it will still provide a good, realistic threat replication for us, and provide good quality training,” said Capt. Chris DuBois, a 173rd Fighter Wing instructor pilot, in the release. —Brian Everstine

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RADAR SWEEP

—Senior Air Force leaders met at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, this week for Corona Top, where they discussed things such as multi-domain command and control, space threats, and major acquisition programs: Dayton Daily News.

—A captain with top secret security clearance who deserted the Air Force in 1983 has been found living and working in California. He is being held at Travis AFB, Calif.: San Francisco Chronicle.

—Aerojet Rocketdyne recently completed a series of hot-fire tests on the its next-generation RL10 engine thrust chamber design, which was “built almost entirely using additive manufacturing; commonly known as 3-D printing:” Aerojet Rocketdyne release.

—Twenty-one Army families and 10 Air Force families will be moved from Vogelweh family housing in Germany after the ceiling collapsed in a multistory apartment complex: Stars and Stripes.