Parts delays and the need to keep workers appropriately separate will translate to an 18-24 airplane shortfall in Lockheed Martin's planned 2020 F-35 production, the company said May 19. The figure is a worst-case estimate and could be mitigated by an earlier acceleration of parts ...
The Air Force’s fleet in fiscal 2019 maintained an overall mission capable rate of 70.27 percent, a slight increase from the previous year. Although some key combat aircraft, such as the fifth-generation F-22 Raptor, which hovers just over 50 percent, sustained low capability rates, service ...
U.S. Air Forces in Europe will test its Agile Combat Employment concept of operations later this month, moving F-16s forward to another USAFE base where maintainers who typically work with mobility aircraft will apply their skills to fighter support. USAFE commander Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian told ...
A new Government Accountability Office report on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter warns of potential further delay beyond the already-postponed full-rate production decision expected next March. The delays could stem from quality standards not being met and because alternative vendors for all parts once made ...
Airmen and F-35s from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, returned home on May 7 from the aircraft type’s second combat deployment to the Middle East. The Airmen and aircraft deployed to Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, ...
The Air Force inspector general is conducting a sweeping review of the service’s readiness assessments and reporting, the year after a Pentagon-wide order directed the armed forces to improve the state of key fighter fleets, according to the service’s presumptive next Chief of Staff. Air ...
Northrop Grumman will test a system that will allow fourth- and fifth-generation fighters to talk to each other, as well as “attritable” aircraft, during the next iteration of the Advanced Battle Management System experiment. The system could also be applied to the KC-46 tanker.
Lawmakers are preparing their aerospace priorities for the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill, in which the Air Force hopes to see an endorsement of its modernization-heavy, $154.6 billion budget request. One provision that could have big ripple effects for the service is a push to ...
The Air Force is bracing for a year or more of adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic, adjusting its operating tempo and procedures under a new "reset" expected June 1, Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said April 22. He's not seeing any major programs faltering ...
The first F-35 Joint Strike Fighters landed at Eielson Air Force, Alaska, on April 21, marking a historic shift for the 354th Fighter Wing, which will now take on a combat mission in addition to its role training U.S. and partner forces through major exercises ...
The Pentagon’s top acquisition official anticipates the military will see a three-month setback across its major defense acquisition programs as the coronavirus pandemic throws contractors and program officials off their usual rhythm. “We do anticipate about a three-month slowdown at slower rates in terms of ...
The Air Force launched its Advanced Battle Management System project to connect its vast array of weaponry with a pledge not to build a typical defense program. That’s gotten the service into trouble with the Government Accountability Office, which says ABMS needs to more formally ...
