Despite potential schedule and cost growth, the service is “comfortable” that Northrop’s B-21 will meet the technical requirements at a reasonable price.
The new U.S. president will likely have to choose between upgrading the nuclear arsenal and funding critical conventional weapons replacement programs.
The U.S. Air Force will kick off its analysis of alternatives for a future air superiority jet in January with an eye toward enemy threats beyond 2030 and beyond the Russian T-50 and Chinese J-20.
The new battlefield necessitates a short-takeoff, lower-signature—if not fully stealthy—refueling aircraft that moves away from the commercial-derivative tankers of years past, Lockheed Martin says.
An Australian parliamentary panel calls for “a hedging strategy to address the risk of a capability gap resulting from further delays to the acquisition of the F-35A.”
After almost two decades of development, the GPS-based Joint Precision Approach and Landing System is on the final stretch to deployment on U.S. Navy ships that will operate the F-35 JSF and unmanned MQ-25 Carrier-Based Aerial Refueling System
After ditching its Common Vertical Lift Support Platform program in 2013 and shying away from two Black Hawk plans, the Air Force is about to try again to replace the vintage UH-1N Huey.
Now that India has reset the clock on replacing its Ilyushin Il-78MKIs, look to Boeing to enter its 767-based KC-46 tanker and Airbus to try to revive A330 MRTT deal.
Japan and Britain are assessing the likely performance of an AESA-equipped Meteor in separate but coordinated studies. Expense and development time are also being weighed.
Deemphasis of maneuverability in the 2013 25DMU concept design is one of several signs that the defense ministry’s engineers think Japan’s next fighter should engage its targets at great distance.
In this week’s Washington Outlook, research funding for advanced helicopter engines; the SpaceX-ULA spat; managing risk at the border and the hunt for counter-UAV technology.
In this week’s roundup, the U.S. Navy awards the first of two MQ-25 Stingray contracts; Europe takes another step toward a combat UAV; UK Defense Ministry backs space-based manufacturing; and Draken International helps the Japanese test a surface-to-air missile.
Air Combat Command’s EQ-4B and E-11A Battlefield Communications Node fleet have served as high-flying combat comms relays for eight years and counting.
The contract between France and India is welcomed by French officials as a diplomatic coup, but it also looms large as part of the arms race between India and some of its neighbors—namely Pakistan and China.
