The Air Force’s B-2 stealth bombers will begin receiving new high-speed processing subsystems under a $108 million low-rate initial production contract awarded to Northrop Grumman, announced the company on Oct. 11. This work is part of the first increment of the B-2’s Extremely High Frequency satellite communications program. “The EHF Increment 1 upgrades provide a smart, cost-effective way to enable future combat capability on the B-2,” said Ron Naylor, the company’s director of B-2 modernization and transformation. He added, “Every current and future upgrade program for the jet will benefit from the quantum leap in processing power and data-handling capacity provided by this new hardware and software.” The new hardware and software include an integrated processing unit, a high-capacity disk drive, and a network of fiberoptic cable. In July, the Increment 1 hardware and software successfully completed a series of operational tests, said Naylor. The Air Force let the contract on Sept. 28. Northrop Grumman is the B-2 prime contractor.
Active-Duty Airmen only have a few days left to submit an official waist-to-height ratio into the Air Force’s new online application. But the service clarified July 23 that this first body composition measurement is not meant to be scored as part of the new Physical Fitness Readiness Assessment, or PFRA