Alliant Techsystems, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman have teamed to pursue advanced multi-role weapons for the F-22 and F-35 as well as future unmanned aerial vehicles and manned platforms, the companies announced in a joint statement July 16. “This team provides any potential customer in this market with the product options that offer the best capabilities, schedule, and price available,” the companies declared. They said they envision an emerging market for these weapons, an example of which is a dual-role missile that could be used either to shoot down another aircraft or attack a ground target instead of an aircraft having to carry single-purpose missiles to cover both of these missions. The Air Force Research Lab is already maturing propulsion, control system, and warhead technologies applicable to such a weapon that it provisionally calls the joint dual role air dominance missile. Boeing is under contract to AFRL for this work.
The U.S. thwarted a drone attack on U.S. forces at Al Asad air base in western Iraq on April 22, marking the first time that American troops have been targeted since February, U.S. officials said. “We can confirm it was an attack on Al Asad,” a defense official told Air & Space…