After a long period in which munitions were almost an afterthought and sacrificed to pay for other priorities, the Air Force needs to focus on them in order to have the right “package” of capabilities for future conflicts, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown ...
LRASM
The Air Force plans to get production of the classified AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile underway this year and will equip its new Collaborative Combat Aircraft with the weapon, senior USAF leaders said at a Senate Armed Services Hearing.
Australia says it won’t buy the B-21 bomber, but Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden said it may still be “on the table” when the program is more mature. Warden also reiterated that the new bomber will fly this year.
Lockheed Martin has opened a second production line to make two of the Pentagon’s most in-demand weapons: the LRASM anti-ship cruise missile and the JASSM-ER air-to-surface variant. Wargames have shown the utility of the missiles in countering a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The problem is that ...
The Air Force’s B-21 Raider will be the world’s most advanced stealthy bomber when it is fielded later in this decade. For Air Force leaders, the challenge will be to fund the B-21 program to rapidly acquire the inventory it needs to meet operational demands.
A new generation of precision weapons is needed to enhance modern strike capability and deter potential aggressors. “We need fifth-generation weapons to go with our fifth-generation Air Force,” said Gen. Mark D. Kelly, head of Air Combat Command, in October 2021, counting such munitions among ...
Four years after the National Defense Strategy reset the American military focus from counter-extremism to “Great Power Competition”—and two weeks after the Pentagon’s new NDS named China the pacing threat—the Defense Department is only sluggishly taking concrete steps to change its operating constructs, although the ...
The Air Force is looking for a new, generic weapon, produced by multiple vendors, to affordably attack targets at standoff ranges, with a capability as soon as 2030, according to a service solicitation to the defense industry. The Air Force wants to assess the industrial ...
The Air Force is boosting its munitions buy in fiscal 2023, marking another modest step in the migration away from direct-attack munitions with priority going to standoff capability, such as the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range series and its variant, the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile.
The Need for a Cost-Effective PGM Mix for Great Power Conflict
Even as it ramps up production of the Lockheed Martin AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, the Air Force is doing preliminary work on a successor, Air Force armament directorate boss Brig. Gen. Heath A. Collins told reporters this week. Collins also provided an update on ...
A B-1B bomber on Dec. 4 released a JASSM stealth missile from its Sniper targeting pod pylon. The demonstration follows a captive-carry dress rehearsal in November, and paves the way for the B-1 to carry a variety of munitions, but especially hypersonic missiles, on external ...
