The new Mk21A reentry vehicle will be mounted atop the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile and will carry an updated nuclear warhead known as the W87-1.
By Michael Marrow“There’s a lot that can go wrong on the program management side,” Col. Louis Ruscetta, senior materiel leader of the B-52 division, said of the bomber’s upcoming modernization. “We have to try to manage and reduce what can go wrong.”
By Valerie InsinnaRolls-Royce beat out General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, the latter of whom produced the TF33 engines currently used on the B-52.
By Aaron MehtaA contract for one of three companies is “imminent,” per top Air Force officials.
By Aaron MehtaRolls-Royce, GE Aviation, and Pratt & Whitney have invested hundreds of thousands of hours of digital engineering on the podded mount for the digital engines to virtually attach to the bomber’s wing, as well as on other tests such as understanding airflow properties of the aircraft.
With hundreds of thousands of hours of digital engineering work done, Rolls-Royce is well ahead of schedule for the F130 engine development.
By Breaking DefenseRep. Adam Smith, who’s excoriated the F-35, said the B-21 bomber is “on time, on budget, and they’re making it work in a very intelligent way.”
By Paul McLeary“If you try to life-extend a weapon system that was built before the invention of the Internet, and then turn around and ask me why it’s not cyber-secure — I don’t know how,” Adm. Charles Richard told SASC today.
By Theresa Hitchens
The US needs to shift investment from hallowed but vulnerable legacy platforms – especially aircraft carriers and B-52 bombers – to more flexible and survivable weapons systems – above all, Aegis warships and the unfairly much-maligned F-35.
By Scott Cooper