Declaring “full rate production” for the F-35 may come in early 2024, but the declaration may be moot, as the jet is already being built at nearly its maximum planned rate, Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt said.
The Air Force will likely make a decision this summer on whether to insert Advanced Engine Transition Program powerplants into the F-35 fleet, Secretary Frank Kendall said, because he doesn’t want to waste money on further delay if the program isn’t going forward. “We need ...
Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt took command of the F-35 Joint Program Office on July 5, succeeding Air Force Lt. Gen. Eric Fick, who is retiring. The succession of an Air Force PEO by another—breaking more than 25 years of back-and-forth joint leadership—may ...
The Pentagon handed out more than $80 million in contracts for work on the F-35’s engines and weapons integration as well as another $25 million to support the development of a joint simulation environment for the F-22. The largest of the deals handed out went ...
Australia is declaring its allegiance to the “global rules-based order,” the U.S. Defense Department’s code for keeping China in check, with a host of joint military capability development plans that go beyond the recent high-profile sharing of nuclear submarine technology. “China has risen, and the ...
Pratt & Whitney is testing its Adaptive Engine Technology Program XA101 powerplant and has already demonstrated the objective goals for the program, company military engines president Matthew Bromberg said. He estimates that up to 70 percent of the technology could be fitted to improve fighter ...
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 ...
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and new Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall have a history, and some parts of it look to be repeating themselves. Kendall, now in his third week leading the Department of the Air Force, oversaw DOD weapons buying as the undersecretary ...
Leaked images of Russia's new F-35-class single-engine jet fighter suggest the aircraft borrows from U.S. Joint Strike Fighter designs, resembling both Boeing's X-32 and McDonnell Douglas' JSF in some key aspects. The fighter, to be formally unveiled July 20, joins a crowding field of F-35 ...
The F-35 has problems, but its operational success and critical role in future conflicts outweigh them, said Rep. Anthony Brown during the McAleese FY2022 Defense Programs Conference on May 12. He urged that the services' 2022 F-35 request—as well as any congressional adds—be supported by ...
The F-35A fleet is now the second largest in the Air Force’s inventory, behind the F-16 but surpassing F-15s and A-10s. There are now 283 Joint Strike Fighters in the Air Force’s arsenal, compared to 281 A-10s, 234 F-15C/Ds, and 218 F-15Es. Air Force Chief ...
The Air Force’s tanker presence in the Arctic will grow, with four more KC-135s heading to a new Active component at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The KC-135s and up to 220 Active duty Airmen will head to the 168th Wing at Eielson, with aircraft ...