Michael Marrow covers air warfare for Breaking Defense. He holds a BA in history from the University of Virginia and started out as a freelance reporter covering local news in Fairfax County, Virginia and policing in Charlottesville, Virginia. Michael previously reported on the Air Force and Space Force for Inside Defense, where he tracked major acquisitions, policy changes and modernization efforts.
The Air Force’s $705 million award for Phase 2 of the Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) is targeting initial operational capability by 2026, Northrop Grumman says.
Strong demand for the Joint Strike Fighter means a production crunch is lurking, a top US Air Force general tells Breaking Defense. But expanding production could be risky business for industry.
A sweeping report on sustainment of the F-35 from the Government Accountability Office found that a lack of depot capacity is hurting the fighter’s mission capable rates, with other problems in access to technical data, availability of parts and over-reliance on contractors for maintenance.
A breakthrough in a blockade on military confirmations came after the Senate’s top Democrat moved to hold individual votes for Brown, as well as Army and Marine Corps leaders.
During the stand down, units will discuss “fundamentals of safe flight operations, ground safety, maintenance and flight procedures, and maintaining combat readiness,” Marines say.
Before the Joint Strike Fighter was located, an analyst told Breaking Defense it probably couldn’t fly too long on its own due to aerodynamic and fuel limitations.
To meet the program’s delayed production decision, set for February 2025, the T-7A will need to qualify its escape system and finish its flight control software, though officials expressed confidence the jet could achieve the goal.
Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet also said that TR-3 upgrade delays for the Joint Strike Fighter stemmed from late hardware, compressing the schedule for software testing.
