An independent academic team will assess how ready the F-35 is for full-rate production, and its findings will be integrated into a new program timeline, the Joint Program Office reported. The move follows a full-rate production delay by Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief Ellen M. ...
The F-35 will miss yet another deadline for completing final tests and being approved for full-scale production, according to a memo from Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief Ellen Lord. The sticking point is integration of the F-35 with a wargaming simulation system. This has gone ...
A XQ-58 Valkyrie drone payload translated the incompatible signals of stealthy F-22 and F-35 fighters in a Dec. 9 test, enabling the aircraft to talk together and pass combat information between them. Air Force Chief Architect Preston Dunlap said the test shouldn't be viewed as ...
The State Department on Dec. 14 announced sanctions against Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries over its purchase of Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system. SSB is banned from receiving “U.S. export licenses and authorizations,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote. The U.S. has frozen the assets ...
Lawmakers weighed in on three of the Air Force’s top-priority technology development efforts in the final draft of the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill, offering more money and more oversight as the programs mature. The Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology initiative, hypersonic weapons, and the Next-Generation ...
Three companies will move on to flight experiments as part of the Air Force’s Skyborg drone program, the service said Dec. 7. Kratos earned $37.8 million, Boeing earned $25.7 million, and General Atomics earned $14.3 million to continue on in the program, the Air Force ...
As the final days of 2020 count down, House and Senate negotiators have agreed on sweeping defense policy legislation that offers nearly $732 billion to the armed forces in fiscal 2021. “The FY21 NDAA focuses on maintaining the strength of our defense enterprise as our ...
Aerospace experts offered a peek into how joint all-domain command and control might begin changing the Air Force over the next few years, during RAND Corp.’s West Coast Aerospace Forum on Dec. 2. Expect the upcoming fiscal 2022 and 2023 budgets to majorly accelerate combat ...
Secrecy prevents the F-35 Joint Program Office from revealing the corrective measures being taken after hardware and software deficiencies contributed to a May crash of an F-35 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., the JPO said Nov. 23. It is unusual for the government to ...
China and Russia are making troubling gains in electromagnetic spectrum warfare, and this is one reason the Air Force is forming a new spectrum warfare wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mark D. Kelly said in a recent interview. ...
The Senate Appropriations Committee wants to keep a closer eye on the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program. Lawmakers added multiple provisions to the committee’s version of the fiscal 2021 defense spending bill that call for more reports on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, as well ...
The Air Force’s next massive force networking demonstration will focus on protecting troops in Europe from incoming missiles and other airborne threats, the service said in a recent notice. The fourth Advanced Battle Management System exercise, slated for February 2021, will pull data from next-generation ...