All United States Air Force articles – Page 18
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News
DOD reveals ‘arsenal plane’ and microdrones in budget speech
The Pentagon is building an repurposed “arsenal plane” that would carry large volumes of bombs and missiles into battle alongside modern combat aircraft like the Lockheed Martin F-35.
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News
Raytheon and Northrop to receive JSTARS radar contracts
The US air force is poised to award sole-source contracts to Raytheon and Northrop Grumman for the development of their competing active electronically scanned array radars as part of its Northrop Grumman E-8C JSTARS recapitalisation effort.
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News
Taiwanese F-16A crashes in Arizona desert
A Taiwanese F-16A operating from Luke AFB in Arizona has crashed and the pilot is presumed dead, according to a base spokesman.
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News
US general says B-52 overflight caught North Korea’s attention
North Korea did not shrug off the recent overflight of a 55-year-old B-52H bomber near Seoul that was escorted by US and South Korean combat jets, according to vice chairmen of the US joint chiefs of staff Gen Paul Selva.
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News
DOD official: World faces ‘Terminator conundrum’ on AI weapons
The US military faces “the Terminator conundrum” when it comes to artificially intelligent killing machines, including unmanned aircraft and loitering munitions.
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News
Reviving F-22 Raptor production a ‘non-starter’
The secretary of the air force has become the latest official to douse hopes of restarting Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor production, which was capped at 187 aircraft and closed in 2011.
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News
USAF faces cost conundrum with F-35, KC-46 and LRS-B
In 1986 during the so-called Reagan Build-up, $12 billion delivered 387 new combat aircraft to the US military. Today, that amount buys fewer than 80.
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News
Combat-coded F-35A to begin dropping bombs
In February or early March, a combat-coded F-35A from the 34th Fighter Squadron at Hill AFB will release an inert, laser-guided bomb at the nearby Utah Test and Training Range.
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News
US Air Force highlights UAV staffing strain
The number of daily US Air Force unmanned air vehicle combat air patrols (CAPs) reached its peak in 2015, but such demand, and the resulting manning shortages, have put extra strain on surveillance operations.
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News
F-35 training at Luke AFB gathers pace with 34 jets
The multinational pilot training centre at Luke AFB in Arizona has grown exponentially since receiving its first Lockheed Martin F-35 in March 2014, and that pace won’t let up in 2016 as the 56th Fighter Wing zips past 3,000 Lightning II sorties.
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News
Demand for low airfares increasing appeal of unmanned flight
The rising cost of providing navigation equipment for airline pilots, and the parallel demand for cheaper airfares, will inevitably lead to piloted flight being obsolete in 40 years’ time, a defence consultant has argued.
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News
PICTURES: B-52 joins F-15s and F-16s in Korea after nuclear test
North Korea’s underground nuclear test last week might not have yielded the hydrogen bomb “supreme leader” Kim Jong-un claimed, but the seismic spectacle did produce a captivating aerial display south of the border.
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Opinion
OPINION: Talons drawn for T-X trainer battle
If 2015 was the year of the bomber, the US Air Force’s requirement for a next-generation fighter trainer will be one of the hottest games in town in 2016.
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News
Quarrel over next-gen nuclear cruise missile heats up
As the voices opposing America’s new nuclear-tipped cruise missile grow louder, recently-retired air force general Larry Spencer has rejected suggestions that cancelling the programme will inspire other nations to follow suit.
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News
Welsh: Modernise USAF or risk more lives in future conflict
The military head of the US Air Force has warned that the cost of not modernising front-line combat aviation forces “will be measured in terms of lives lost of friendly forces”.
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News
F-22, Typhoon and Rafale tested in new joint combat exercise
The increasingly cluttered warzone in Syria and the recent shoot down of a Russian Su-24 bomber by Turkey underscore the need for deeper interoperability, deconfliction and coordination between coalition fighters, according to US Air Force’s top general.
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News
JSTARS programme forges ahead with Pentagon tick
An air force programme to recapitalise the timeworn Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or JSTARS, is moving forward with the Pentagon’s blessing after receiving “Milestone A” approval from the US military’s top weapons buyer last week.
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News
USAF ‘all-in’ on JSTARS Recap despite opposition
The US Air Force’s proposed acquisition of a next-generation JSTARS battlefield management platform faces an uphill struggle to secure the required funding, and would be cancelled altogether if some within the Pentagon had their way.
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News
USAF denies seeking more F-16 or F-15 combat jets
The US Air Force has denied any plans to purchase another tranche of Lockheed Martin F-16 or Boeing F-15 combat jets following reports it could seek bids for up to 72 new aircraft.
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News
Northrop, Raytheon ready for USAF's JSTARs radar competition
Raytheon and Northrop Grumman have raised their hands to participate in a radar engineering project tied to the US air force’s approximately $9 billion acquisition of “JSTARS” business jets for wide-area airborne surveillance and battle management.