Nighthawk Gets Its Name

Northrop Grumman recently delivered the first production-version of a new upgraded, jam-resistant airborne navigation system for the Air Force's F-22 Raptor and Navy’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft.

For 2027, so-called “pass through” accounts—money that funds other agencies and is never actually touched or used by the Air Force—will top $52.3 billion. That's 13.4 percent of the total department spending plan. But proportionally, that $52.3 billion accounts for a smaller share than in past years, when it has sometimes exceeded 20 percent.  

The Space Force announced April 16 the establishment of a Cislunar Coordination Office to manage and craft a roadmap for the service’s nascent deep-space missions.

The Air Force wants to funnel $1.4 billion into air base defense with new weapon systems designed to protect homeland installations and forward-deployed airfields against drones and missile threats, Air Force budget officials said April 21.

The Air Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request would invest $15 billion in its munitions portfolio, with $10.8 billion earmarked for weapons purchases and another $4.3 billion for research, development, test, and evaluation of new arms.