All articles by James Drew – Page 9
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NewsUS Air Mobility Command readying for KC-46A introduction
The head of US Air Mobility Command says he is not overly concerned about the Boeing KC-46A’s eight-month development delay and legacy KC-10 and KC-135 aerial tankers will not start retiring until the next-generation tanker is ready for combat.
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NewsUS fighter and bomber chiefs embrace Pentagon's 'arsenal plane' plan
The US Air Force’s top fighter and bomber commands are actively pushing for the introduction of so-called arsenal planes as they seek to “fling” long-range weapons into future warzone guarded by sophisticated enemy air defence systems as a compliment to front-line stealth fighters.
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NewsUSAF reveals slimmed-down SACM air-to-air missile concept
The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) says it has begun early research into a miniature air-to-air missile that would be carried on the next-generation of advanced fighter jets.
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NewsNorthrop RQ-4B trials Dragon Lady’s SYERS-2 sensor
The US Air Force's Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle has successfully flown one of the Lockheed Martin U-2’s most prized sensors in an aerial demonstration from Northrop’s Palmdale, California site.
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Defence firms get creative at Air Warfare Symposium
The Air Force Association’s annual gathering in Orlando, Florida has convened again, and the turnout this week reflects an ambitious US Air Force that is reaching for the future while also searching for new and inventive ways to boost the destructive power of its legacy aircraft.
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News
Boeing racing clock to deliver 18 KC-46 tankers by next August
The narrow window for Boeing to delivery 18 operational KC-46A Pegasus tankers to the US Air Force by August 2017 includes little to no room for error and a series of things must to go right between now and then to achieve that significant contractual milestone.
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NewsTrial F-35A deployment smooths path for first combat squadron
Six F-35A of 31st Test Evaluation Squadron have deployed to Mountain Home AFB in Idaho this month for an “operational deployment test” that will clear the way for 10 operational jets from the first combat-coded squadron, which will follow this summer.
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News
Boeing seeks to recapture prime USAF C-17 training spot
Boeing’s defence business is mounting a campaign to recapture the US Air Force C-17 aircrew and maintenance training contract that it conceded to L-3 Link Simulation and Training in 2010.
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NewsUS Army begins industry survey for Future Vertical Lift
The US Army has provided the clearest details yet about what in needs in a Future Vertical Lift (FVL) platform after releasing two requests for information for next-generation rotorcraft technologies and concepts in the lightly armed reconnaissance and mid-size utility/attack roles.
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NewsRaytheon offers American-made T-100 for T-X
Raytheon has officially jumped into the US Air Force's T-X race, offering the Italian Finmeccanica-Alenia Aermacchi M-346-based T-100 with twin Honeywell F124 turbofan engines and training supported from CAE.
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NewsBoeing KC-46 receives fuel from KC-10
The Boeing KC-46A Pegasus has now exercised each of its major fuel systems after being topped up by another US Air Force KC-10 tanker on February 13 over Washington state.
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Sikorsky 'laser-focused' on being the mission choice
With oil prices dipping below $30 per barrel and global energy stocks declining, one sector of the aviation business has industry analysts feeling particularly pessimistic in 2016: civil rotorcraft. In an overcrowded oil and gas transportation market where new American and European helicopters are competing for fewer and fewer orders, ...
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Analysis
ANALYSIS: Sikorsky seeks next leap in rotorcraft technology
Sikorsky officials have hinted at potential commercial derivatives of the company’s military S-97 Raider and SB-1 Defiant technology demonstrators, which are being developed for US Army missions. Powered by rigid, counter-rotating main rotors and a pusher propeller with fly-by-wire controls and active vibration dampeners, the S-97 and SB-1 advance the ...
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Pave Hawk replacement finally beckons for US Air Force
Ten years ago, the US Air Force was charging full speed towards the procurement of 141 Boeing HH-47s to replace the Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk for the personnel recovery mission. That combat search-and-rescue (CSAR-X) Chinook derivative would have entered service with 10 combat-coded examples in 2012. But fast-forward to today ...
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NewsChinook Block II gathers pace as Boeing seeks development deal
Boeing is pressing forward with advanced Chinook rotor blade (ACRB) construction at its Philadelphia-based composites plant as it prepares for prototype flight demonstrations on a tethered CH-47 later this year.
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NewsBoeing B-52H gets new radar under $500M modernisation plan
The US Air Force wants to spend more than $500 million replacing the outdated Northrop Grumman AN/APQ-166 mechanically scanned array radar on its 53-year-old Boeing B-52H fleet.
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NewsUSAF ditches Black Hawk revival in search for Huey replacement
The US Air Force needs $2.5 billion to replace its 62 outdated Bell UH-1N Twin Hueys and is now considering whether to sole-source a portion of that 72-aircraft requirement for security operations around its 450 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile silos.
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NewsF-22 Raptors in South Korea as warning to 'provocative' North
American F-22 Raptors have joined locally based F-16s and F-15K Slam Eagles in South Korea for a show of force following “provocative actions” by the North.
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NewsSikorsky-Boeing wrap up SB-1 design review as Defiant takes form
Sikorsky and Boeing are weeks away from completing the final design review of their jointly developed high-speed SB-1 Defiant prototype as Swift Engineering works toward delivery of the core airframe this summer.
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NewsGeneral Atomics receives contract for Spanish MQ-9s
Spain has moved forward with its procurement of unarmed MQ-9 Reapers after putting California-based remotely piloted aircraft manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems on contract for four aircraft and two Block 30 ground control stations.