All United States Air Force articles – Page 14
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NewsRaytheon and Northrop contracted for JSTARS radar battle
The US Air Force has locked in Raytheon and Northrop Grumman as its two competing radar vendors for the new-generation Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) programme. Each has been awarded “no-to-exceed” contracts with ceiling values of $60 million and $70 million, respectively, according to a contract announcement ...
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NewsUSAF still does not know why its Block 1 MQ-9s fail
The US Air Force says it has avoided 17 more MQ-9 Reapers crashes since last April thanks to a backup electrical system that has been installed as a safeguard against a still-undetermined problem with the starter-generator on the Block 1 version's Honeywell turboprop engine.
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NewsUSAF to begin converting L-model Back Hawks into HH-60Gs
The US Air Force expects to begin converting 21 second-hand US Army L-model Black Hawks to the HH-60G Pave Hawk standard for combat rescue missions “later this year”.
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NewsUSAF eyes 41 UH-60Ms for $1.4 billion to recap patrol Hueys
The US Air Force says it needs 41 new helicopters to help guard and escort nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, more than 400 of which are on alert at three air force bases in America’s far north.
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NewsF-35 chief expects P&W's bomber work to reduce F135 cost
The head of the multinational F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme expects Pratt & Whitney to significantly reduce the cost of the F135 now that it has been named as the propulsion system supplier for the Northrop Grumman B-21 bomber.
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NewsPentagon worried about dwindling USAF fighter numbers
US deputy secretary of defence Robert Work has expressed concern about the size of the US Air Force’s tactical fighter force, which has dropped from 88 squadrons before the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 to just 54 squadrons today.
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NewsSupport builds for USAF to replace Hueys with Black Hawks
The US Air Force will decide in “next couple of weeks” whether to procure Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters to replace the Vietnam-era Bell UH-1N Hueys that protect America’s nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles.
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NewsPenalty for breaking Northrop's B-21 contract is '$300 million'
The US Air Force says it would cost the US government upward of $300 million to breaks its cost-plus contract with Northrop Grumman to develop the B-21 strategic bomber.
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NewsUSAF wants on-time F-X, not more F-22s
The US Air Force has no interest in restarting production of the Lockheed Martin F-22, partly because it too expensive and because it wants to move quickly on a next-generation fighter.
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NewsUSAF studying future attack aircraft options
The US Air Force has begun studying future close air support aircraft to succeed the Fairchild Republic A-10 as the Pentagon evaluates the weaponry it needs for “prolonged operations” of one year or more.
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NewsAviation accounts restored in DOD 'unfunded priority' lists
If Congress directed an extra $690.5 million to the US Air Force, it would restore the five Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft that it cut from its fiscal year 2017 budget request. The US Marine Corps, meanwhile, would spend a $750 million windfall on two more F-35Bs and two ...
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AnalysisANALYSIS: America's hypersonic missile revolution beckons
Long before hitching a ride to the moon aboard Apollo 11, then US Air Force test pilot Neil Armstrong was zipping around in a rocket-powered North American X-15, which to this day remains the fastest manned, winged aircraft ever built. That flight record of Mach 6.72 or 7,274km/h was set ...
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NewsUSAF flaunts ‘arsenal plane’ concept at Air Warfare Symposium
The US Air Force has offered the first artist’s impression of the Pentagon’s “arsenal plane” concept in a video presented by service secretary Deborah Lee James at an Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida.
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NewsUSAF Global Strike chief seeks beefed-up bomber force
The head of US Air Force Global Strike Command has called for a beefed-up bomber force of “175 to 200” bombers and will make a formal recommendation to the service chief of staff and major command leaders next month.
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NewsUSAF reveals Northrop's B-21 long-range strike bomber
The US Air Force has revealed its bomber for the 21st century, the Northrop Grumman B-21 long-range strike bomber.
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NewsEnhanced MQ-9 carries out maiden flight
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has carried out the maiden flight of an enhanced endurance variant of its MQ-9 Reaper unmanned air vehicle at its Palmdale, California facility.
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NewsNorthrop preparing German Euro Hawk to fly again
The Northrop Grumman-built “Euro Hawk” unmanned air vehicle will fly again after the Germany Air Force decided to resume testing of the aircraft and its Airbus Defence & Space signals intelligence payload.
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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.