The Air Force wants to add more Airmen for space, sensing, command and control, and logistics, if upcoming military budgets let the service grow, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen “Seve” Wilson said May 20. Wilson also said plans for a larger bomber force will ...
The Air Force has launched its competition for engines to power the F-15EX, after initial plans to simply award the contract to GE Aviation. The AIr Force wants 461 engines to be delivered at a maximum rate of six per month, ending with final deliveries ...
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 ...
A long-standing problem with F-16 landing gear caused the December 2019 crash of a Viper upon landing at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. The documented problems with actuators and brackets on the main landing gear of F-16 Block 32 and Block 40 aircraft prompted an ...
Full-rate production may slip a little further as initial operational test and evaluation and the integration of the F-35 into a virtual wargaming environment play out, program executive officer Lt. Gen. Eric Fick said March 4. Granting Lockheed Martin's pitch to get a Performance-Based Logistics ...
Lawmakers are beginning to weigh how the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill could help solve the KC-46 tanker program’s woes and speed its introduction into regular operations. Congress could dictate the terms of how Boeing should fix the tanker’s faulty remote vision system and how ...
The Air Force’s push to retire aging tankers to fund future capabilities will significantly impact current operations and the ability to fly current wartime missions, the head of U.S. Transportation Command wrote to lawmakers. In the command’s Unfunded Priority List sent to Congress on Feb. ...
The Department of the Air Force has submitted a $4.2 billion unfunded priorities list to Congress for fiscal 2021, which includes roughly $3.2 billion for the U.S. Air Force and $1 billion for the fledgling U.S. Space Force. The USAF request, which is significantly more ...
Heading into budget negotiation season, the three civilian heads of the armed forces outlined their looming struggles with Capitol Hill at a Feb. 21 Center for Strategic and International Studies panel. Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said it’s harder to convince lawmakers of the merits ...
The Air Force recently finished delivering 2,700 new, lightweight rifles designed to be carried in an Airman's ejection seat. The Air Force Gunsmith Shop, part of the Armament Center at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, designed the 7-pound, 5.56 mm rifle, which is ...
The Air Force’s decision to cut a major upgrade to the B-2 bomber’s defenses shows the military is accepting near-term risk to free up funding for future capabilities, the head of U.S. Strategic Command told lawmakers Feb. 13. The Air Force’s budget proposal winds down ...
The Air Force wants to retire 28 KC-10s and KC-135s, even though the KC-46 tanker is years away from operational capability. This KC-46 fleet has been plagued by problems, especially with its Remote Vision System, which links the boom operator to the refueling system. Air ...