All articles by James Drew – Page 19
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NewsRAF A400M stretches legs on US detachment
With four operational Airbus A400Ms in use, the UK Royal Air Force is working overtime to “unlock” the potential of the service's new tactical transport, with one aircraft now in the USA to assess carriage of the US Army's Stryker armoured fighting vehicle.
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NewsBoeing KC-46A makes historic first flight after setbacks
Boeing’s first fully-configured KC-46A aerial refuelling tanker has begun its long-awaited first flight, lifting off from Paine Field in Washington today after some weather-related delays.
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NewsBeale AFB farewells MC-12 as spy plane moves to Army and SOCOM
The MC-12W Liberty reconnaissance aircraft will be completely removed from the US Air Force’s inventory by 1 October, but Air Combat Command says all of the aircraft will go to new owners and not the boneyard.
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NewsUS Navy’s Sidewinder, AARGM block upgrades hit key milestones
The US Navy has moved forward on two key weapons programmes, after clearing Raytheon’s AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II for full-rate production and validating the Orbital ATK AGM-88E Block 1 software improvement in a successful test shot against a moving ship.
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NewsPease ANGB begins preparations to house Boeing KC-46 in 2018
Pease Air National Guard Base in New Hampshire has begun updating 1950s-era hangars once occupied by Boeing B-47 Stratojets and KC-97 Stratofreighters, of Strategic Air Command, to accommodate the manufacturer’s newest creation, the Boeing KC-46.
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NewsP&W expects influx of F119 overhauls as Raptor unsheathes talons
Pratt & Whitney could soon be prying open boxes of Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor engine tooling to support depot overhaul of the thrust-vectoring, supercruise F119 due to increased operational use.
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Scorpion will not be proposed for USAF T-X competition
Textron AirLand’s Scorpion in its current form has been ruled out as a competitor for the US Air Force’s T-X next-generation trainer programme to replace the Northrop T-38, according to the joint venture’s president Bill Anderson.
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NewsNavy interest in Scorpion Jet as Textron seeks USAF certification
Textron AirLand is courting the US Navy in its quest for a Scorpion Jet launch customer, with the seafaring service exploring ways to keep its Boeing F/A-18 pilots mission-ready without having to put all too many extra flight hours on its war-fatigued fighters.
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NewsLockheed unveils Norway’s first F-35A as fighter project expands
Lockheed Martin has unveiled Norway’s first F-35A, marking the start of a 10-year endeavour by the Royal Norwegian Air Force to phase out the Lockheed F-16 and achieve full operating capability with its stealthy, multirole replacement, by 2025.
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NewsUS officials: F-35 will outmatch any aircraft in development
The Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer sees no aircraft in development anywhere today that would be “seriously competitive” against the Lockheed Martin F-35 in combat.
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NewsUSAF stripping 30 B-52Hs of nuclear weapons capability
As US Air Force Global Strike Command anticipates the introduction of the nuclear-capable Long-Range Strike Bomber in the mid-2020s, the command is de-arming its air-launched cruise missile-carrying Boeing B-52 bombers to comply with New START treaty limits with Russia.
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Dutch MOD, P&W sign contract to stand up F135 maintenance site
The Dutch Ministry of Defence has formalised an agreement with Pratt & Whitney to establish an organic F135 engine maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade (MRO&U) shop at the Royal Netherlands Air Force’s Woensdrecht Logistics Centre with the goal of supporting Lockheed Martin F-35 operations by 2019.
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NewsUSAF could expand ‘Rapid Raptor’ quick-reaction deployments
US Air Combat Command might have too few Lockheed Martin F-22s, but the recently conceived “Rapid Raptor” method for quick-reaction fighter jet deployments is proving so successful that it might be extended to other airframes.
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NewsDARPA replaces helicopter landing skids with robotic legs
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has demonstrated robotic helicopter legs that promise to soften and stabilise rotorcraft landings for just a “moderate increase” in weight.
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NewsAFSOC developing tactics for '2020' AC-130 gunship laser weapon
The head of US Air Force Special Operations Command has issued a “JFK challenge” to the defence industry to install a high-power electric laser on an AC-130 gunship by the end of the decade.
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NewsAFSOC seeks expendable, small UAV as AC-130 gunship sensor
US Air Force Special Operations Command wants an expendable, tube-launched small unmanned aerial vehicle for its AC-130 “battleplane” for peering beneath cloud cover to direct gunfire and precision-guided munitions.
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NewsF-15C, F-35 to boost US air-to-air capacity, not more F-22s
The head of US Air Combat Command says it would be his dream to restart production of the Lockheed Martin F-22 air superiority jet as potential adversaries like Russia and China “close the gap” with Western air power.
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NewsPentagon inspector finds no fault with US Navy’s 70-Triton buy
The US Navy properly justified its requirement for 70 maritime versions of the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, the Pentagon’s top auditor says, but the final number depends on the aircraft’s performance after 100,000 flight hours.
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NewsUSAF seeks ‘interim’ CHAMP, longer-range air-to-air missiles
The US Air Force plans to introduce Boeing and Raytheon’s “CHAMP” high-power-microwave emitting cruise missile into the combat force on board the 1990s conventional air-launched cruise missile as an “interim capability” while the technology transitions to Lockheed Martin’s JASSM-ER.
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NewsLockheed and Roketsan shoot for SOM-J first flight in 2017
Lockheed Martin and Turkish missile maker Roketsan hope to flight tests the next-generation SOM-J cruise missile on a Turkish F-16 fighter jet in 2017 ahead of integration for internal carriage on the Lockheed F-35 in Block 4.2.