All Department of Defense articles
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News
P&W completes preliminary design review for F135 upgrade
Pratt & Whitney has completed the preliminary design review under the F135 Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) initiative, setting the stage for improved performance and durability.
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News
Pentagon to resume new F-35 deliveries while awaiting full flight certification
The Pentagon will begin accepting new F-35 fighters for the first time in nearly a year, despite manufacturer Lockheed not yet completing flight certification for a new package of hardware and software for the advanced stealth jet.
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News
Northrop completes Pentagon’s XRQ-73 experimental flying wing
Northrop Grumman has built the experimental XRQ-73 hybrid-electric flying-wing that it has been developing under a secretive US military project.
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News
Boeing to maintain Spirit AeroSystems’ defence contracts
The troubled aerostructures manufacturer has become an important supplier of several key US defence programmes, including the air force’s new stealth bomber and the army’s next-generation tiltrotor.
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In depth
Boeing bets big on next-generation fighter manufacturing facility
The US airframer has begun construction of a $1.8 billion advanced combat aircraft assembly facility in St. Louis, at a time when support for sixth-generation fighter programmes appears to be waning at the Pentagon.
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News
Merlin Labs exploring aircrew reduction technologies for SOCOM
The Boston-based autonomy start-up secured a $105 million contract from US Special Operations Command to design, integrate and test new technologies aimed at reducing the number of crew needed on MC-130J flights.
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News
Next-generation Bell tiltrotor advances in DARPA X-plane competition
Bell’s proposal for the Speed and Runway Independent Technologies project involves a tiltrotor-like aircraft, with the addition of a third, jet-powered flight mode in addition to the rotor-driven vertical and horizontal flight modes found in existing designs.
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News
DARPA reveals six concepts for new ship-based VTOL
Known as the Advanced Aircraft Infrastructure-Less Launch and Recovery – or ANCILLARY – programme, the effort aims to radically improve the range, payload, endurance and weight of vertical take-off and landing aircraft.
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News
Aurora reveals new details of experimental fan-in-wing design
The fan-in-wing prototype recently advanced in DARPA’s Speed and Runway Independent Technologies project to develop a new high-speed jet aircraft capable of vertical take-off and landing.
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News
Latest F-35 configuration may not be ready for service until 2025
Already months behind schedule, US government auditors now predict the latest Technical Refresh 3 configuration of the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter will not be ready for service until 2025, as the airframer struggles to resolve technical issues hindering flight certification of the new systems.
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News
Aurora now sole designer in Pentagon heavy-lift seaplane effort
Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences is now the sole participant in a Pentagon effort to develop a heavy-lift amphibious transport, after a proposed design from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems was eliminated over schedule and technical concerns.
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News
Pentagon to accelerate fielding of AeroVironment Switchblade 600 loitering munition
AeroVironment’s Switchblade 600 is now the first lethal platform to be officially purchased under the Pentagon’s so-called Replicator initiative to field mass numbers of autonomous combat systems.
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News
Top US Air Force official rides in front seat of autonomous F-16
Secretary of the US Air Force Frank Kendall flew in the lead seat of the service’s X-62A Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft (VISTA), a specially modified Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter being used to test and develop artificial intelligence and autonomy capabilities.
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News
Aurora advances in DARPA competition to build high-speed VTOL X-plane
The Boeing subsidiary received an additional $25 million for its fan-in-wing vertical take-off and landing aircraft being designed for the Speed and Runway Independent Technologies X-plane competition.
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News
Anduril and General Atomics advance in USAF autonomous fighter programme
Two manufacturers have been selected by the US Air Force to advance in the competition to develop an autonomous fighter aircraft.
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News
DARPA tests dogfighting AI against human fighter pilot
Using a specially modified F-16 fighter known as the X-62A VISTA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the US Air Force pitted a dogfighting artificial intelligence system against human fighter pilots in recent air-to-air combat exercises.
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In depth
Frustrations build in Washington over continued halt on F-35 deliveries
The Pentagon is preparing to curtail the latest upgrade package for the fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter, as lawmakers expressed frustration with an eight-month freeze in new aircraft deliveries related to certifying new control software.
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News
Iranian attack on Israel included 150 one-way UAVs: Pentagon
The weekend barrage by Iran’s armed forces, which marked Tehran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel, featured more than 300 missiles and air vehicles, according to the Pentagon.
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News
Osprey returns to carrier flight decks under USMC recertification effort
US Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys are once again operating from the decks of the navy’s light carrier amphibious assault ships, as the service progresses toward recertifying its tiltrotors and crews after a three-month grounding order was lifted.
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Analysis
‘True sense of fear’: US military expands pilot training at virtual test range created for F-35
The US military has significantly expanded its use of the US Navy’s Joint Simulation Environment, using technology initially developed to evaluate F-35 systems and sensors to create robust and realistic training environments for pilots flying F-35s, F-22s, F/A-18s, EA-18Gs and E-2Ds.