Thanks to reconciliation, the fiscal 2026 Air Force budget would get a surge of munitions procurement, but it's not yet clear if the production increase will be sustained. The Air Force revealed the secret AIM-260 air-to-air missile's funding for the first time.
The Navy recently launched four AGM-158C-3 Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles at once, in what’s being billed as a “graduation exercise for the latest configuration” of the stealth LRASM. The event follows closely the Air Force beginning multiyear procurement of the joint-service missile.
After a long period in which munitions were almost an afterthought and sacrificed to pay for other priorities, the Air Force needs to focus on them in order to have the right “package” of capabilities for future conflicts, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown ...
The Air Force plans to get production of the classified AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile underway this year and will equip its new Collaborative Combat Aircraft with the weapon, senior USAF leaders said at a Senate Armed Services Hearing.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, thinks there will be continuing bipartisan support for increased munitions procurement and boosting the defense industrial base generally. But that partnership could be challenged by a push to "punish" non-defense spending, he warned.
In need of faster and greater surge weapons production capacity, the Air Force is looking to new technologies for new munitions, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. said. More weapons capacity may mean less efficiency, he acknowledged.
The Air Force’s munitions roadmap is meant to take a comprehensive view of service weapons needs, focused on the next five years but taking a longer view, as well. Modularity may be a hallmark of the future weapons inventory, the service’s munitions PEO said.
A B-2 bomber successfully released a long-range cruise missile during a weapons test in December 2021, contractor Northrop Grumman revealed, potentially giving the stealth bomber the ability to strike even deeper into contested areas. The baseline version of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile has a ...
Even as it ramps up production of the Lockheed Martin AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, the Air Force is doing preliminary work on a successor, Air Force armament directorate boss Brig. Gen. Heath A. Collins told reporters this week. Collins also provided an update on ...
Having successfully used “digital twinning” to design and prototype its latest jet trainer aircraft, the Air Force is moving to use the new technology to develop and test weapons, too—building an online Colosseum in which vendors’ systems can virtually fight each other. Col. Garry A. ...