Without a large corrective investment, the Air Force’s aged fighter force will “collapse” soon due to its small size, lack of training in high-end warfare, low availability, and chronic shortage of pilots and maintainers, according to a new report from the Air & Space Forces ...
The F-35 Joint Program Office is sticking by its endorsement of Pratt & Whitney’s Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) for the F135 powerplant, saying the improvement will meet all the fighter’s future needs for power. But it declined to weigh in on the increasingly combative war ...
The Air Force’s request for funding for the Next Generation Air Dominance program is slashed nearly a third—some $550 million—in the House Armed Services Committee chairman's mark of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. But while the amount of the reduction roughly matches what the ...
A three-person shop at Hill Air Force Base designed a $45 data port cover that could save millions of dollars and many headaches across Air Force bases with the F-35.
While an effective tool, digital engineering won't deliver massive savings of time and money in new programs, yielding probably 20 percent improvement in those areas, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said.
The F-16s at Dannelly Field, Ala., are gone, save for a few receiving some final maintenance. The F-35s that will eventually fill out the 187th Fighter Wing won’t start arriving until December. But the next seven months will be anything but quiet for the Alabama Air National ...
F-15E Strike Eagles deployed to Kadena Air Base, Japan in April, joining F-35s to bolster the Air Force’s fighter fleet on the strategic island in the western Pacific. Meanwhile, the F-16CMs and F-22s that were previously forward deployed to Kadena have returned home, according to ...
The head of the Luftwaffe arrived in the U.S. this week to strengthen cooperation with the U.S. Air National Guard and its F-35s before a massive NATO exercise that is to take place in June. “It's going to be high value,” Chief of the German Air ...
A GAO official told the House Armed Services Committee that the Pentagon still doesn’t have a portfolio-wide plan for tactical aviation, which would help itself and Congress identify true priorities and avoid duplication of effort. He also said the agency is worried that the F-35’s ...
F-35 Lightning II fighters arrived on Okinawa in March as the Air Force continues to swap out its permanently deployed F-15 Eagles at Kadena Air Base, Japan. Air Force officials declined to provide the exact number of F-35s at Kadena or say when more F-15s ...
While Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said he's “comfortable” with the amount of spending in the Air Force’s fiscal 2024 budget, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-V.) said it’s not big enough, arguing for funding that at least matches the rate of inflation.
The Air Force's “4+1” fighter plan is rapidly becoming the “4” plan as the service retires A-10s faster than it expected to, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. said March 15. The retirements are needed to pay for new systems to keep USAF ...