The Pentagon is considering ditching the Air Force’s plan to buy the E-7 Wedgetail as it looks to outsource the airborne target-tracking mission to space, defense officials indicated this week.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s first trip to Capitol Hill to argue for next year’s Pentagon budget shed new light on funding for some of the Air Force’s top-priority acquisition programs, even as the department continues to hide its 2026 request from view.
The Air Force’s E-3 Sentry AWACS fleet is down to just 18 aircraft after the service completed its latest round of retirements at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., last month. The 13th and final AWACS airframe to be retired in fiscal 2023 left the base on ...
The aging E-3 AWACS fleet got a little smaller last week, as the first of 13 aircraft the Air Force is planning on retiring this year took off from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., for the last time. Before the E-3, aircraft 0560, departed for the ...
Boeing will build a prototype E-7A Wedgetail air battle management aircraft for the U.S. Air Force under a $1.2 billion contract awarded Feb. 28, the service announced. Production is set begin in 2025 and the first E-7A will be operational by 2027.
The Air Force’s plans to divest a sizable chunk of its F-22 fighter fleet has run into its biggest hurdle yet, as the House Armed Services Committee’s mark of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act would prohibit any such retirements and establish a minimum fleet ...
A record investment in research and development by the Department of the Air Force will help the United States win the long-term technology race with China, even while shrinking the fleet size before a possible mid-decade Taiwan contingency, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said May ...
The Air Force will buy two prototype E-7 Wedgetail AWACS aircraft for an evaluation but expects to place a procurement order for more E-7s to replace some of its E-3 AWACS fleet. The E-3s are hard to maintain and have low mission capable rates, and ...
Budget compromises driven by the need to modernize two-thirds of the nuclear triad forced Air Force leaders to cut planned F-35 purchases in 2023 to just 33—15 fewer than it bought in fiscal 2022 and 27 fewer than 2021, said Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom, ...
Ukrainian forces are making good use of their Russian-made air defense systems, and Russia’s slow progress in Ukraine is an indication of how important it is to have air superiority, said Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mark D. Kelly. However, the U.S. needs new weapons ...
Replacing the Air Force’s “challenged” E-3 Sentry fleet came closer to reality with a request for information Feb. 8. The Air Force’s AWACS Advanced Capabilities Branch wants to know how companies can deliver prototypes of a replacement for the airborne warning and control system, or ...
Two E-8C Joint Surveillance Attack Radar System aircraft used for watching large swaths of terrain for ground vehicle movements have been seen at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Ramstein is not a frequent operating location for the E-8C, and no exercise including JSTARS in the area ...