All United States Air Force articles – Page 16
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NewsDARPA to hold open competition for XS-1 demonstration phase
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will accept outside bids for the construction and demonstration of a reusable, unmanned “XS-1” spaceplane.
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NewsUSAF firming A-X requirements for A-10 'Warthog' alternative
A draft requirement document that articulated the US Air Force’s need for a new attack aircraft optimised for close air support missions is being circulated within the five walls of the Pentagon and will be reviewed by the service chief “this spring”.
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NewsUSAF backs off sixth-gen 'fighter' in quest for air supremacy
The US Air Force will begin an extensive campaign of prototyping and experimentation relating to new air superiority technologies, including new aircraft types, after completing a wide-ranging examination of future air battle concepts and weaponry.
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News
Alaska base selected to house F-35 squadrons
The US Air Force will station two operational F-35A squadrons on America’s northwestern flank in Alaska, nearby where F-22s typically intercept long-range Russian TU-95 “Bear” bombers.
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NewsDARPA selects industry teams for 'Gremlins' UAV project
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has picked four teams for its Gremlins project, which aims to launch volleys of small, low-cost unmanned air vehicles from bombers, cargo aircraft or possibly even fighter jets, and recover them via a Lockheed Martin C-130 transport.
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NewsPentagon touts "Loyal Wingman" for combat jets
US Air Force plans to insert a “brain” into current-generation fighter jets to create autonomous flying wingmen paired with the Lockheed Martin F-35 were given a bump today, with the Pentagon’s second-in-charge saying he expects to see “unmanned wingman in the air” before convoys of driverless Humvees.
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OpinionOPINION: High-altitude stakes soar for U-2 successor
Since the Space Shuttle’s final mission in 2011, Americans have had to explain to their children that the only way to space now is via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, blasting off from Kazakhstan. This storyline is only being corrected with the development of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Dragon ...
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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.
