Air Force F-15s and F-16s are now cleared to refuel from new KC-46A tankers using the air-to-air refueling boom, the head of Air Mobility Command, Gen. Mike Minihan, directed Oct. 15. The order is the third "interim capability release" since July clearing aircraft to refuel ...
F-35
Chinese officials at the Zhuhai air show forecast an increase in production and shortened development time for stealth fighters, without giving specifics. To match the U.S. Air Force's fifth-generation fighter inventories—not even including the Department of the Navy's—China would have to build 125 such jets ...
American deterrence efforts came one step closer to a critical new level when the Air Force proved a stealth fighter is capable of delivering a tactical nuclear weapon inside hostile territory, Air Combat Command confirmed Oct. 4. The F-35A is the first fifth-generation fighter to ...
For more than two decades, a joint program office has overseen the development, acquisition, and sustainment of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. In the next few years, at least part of that could change. The Senate Armed Services Committee released its markup of the 2022 ...
If Secretary Frank Kendall and other Air Force leaders get their way, the service will be retiring older aircraft in the near future as it looks to modernize. Specifically, legacy systems such as the A-10, KC-135, F-16, and C-130H are all primed for the chopping ...
Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office have agreed that F-35 production will peak at 156 jets per year in 2023 and remain at that level "for the foreseeable future." The "re-baselining" of the program is meant to ensure predictability and stability in production.
The range of current Air Force weapons compels pilots of stealth aircraft to get too close to their targets, risking that they’ll be seen and shot down, Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mark D. Kelly said Sep. 22. The service must have longer-range “fifth-generation weapons” ...
Lockheed Martin must give up proprietary technical data in order to have a chance at long-term performance-based logistics contracts in support of the F-35 fighter, the program executive officer said. If the company fails to satisfy on an initial version of the arrangement, the military ...
The Air Force would have to bear the full development and integration cost of putting new Adaptive Engine Technology Program engines in its F-35 fleet because the other services can’t fit the powerplants in their versions of the fighter, F-35 Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. ...
A new F-35 sustainment contract to Lockheed Martin “paves the way” toward a performance-based logistics contract that the company has been angling for since 2019 and is worth $6.6 billion if all options are exercised. But all bets are off about hitting the Air Force’s ...
Modifications Pratt & Whitney is proposing to its F135 engine can improve thrust and efficiency and would be far less costly than giving the F-35 fighter a new powerplant developed through the Adaptive Engine Transition Program, the engine maker said.
Upgrades in missile technology over the past several years have made the F-35 less survivable than previously hoped, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said Aug. 31 as he pushed for more investment in smaller, unmanned platforms. The Air Force plans to buy ...
