The replacement for the KC-46’s troubled vision system is delayed by more than a year
The KC-46’s new Remote Vision System 2.0 now won’t be available until October 2025.
F-35 might not ever reach $80M target again, Lockheed exec says
“I can't look at you in the eyes and tell you I'll get back below 80 million,” said Greg Ulmer, who leads Lockheed’s aeronautics business. “But I do think there's opportunity space … to keep cost out of the airplane.”
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Keeping sensitive information safe in a new AI era
Why edge and endpoint security can’t be an afterthought.
US Air Force to start new experiments with Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone
Lt. Gen. Clint Hinote told Breaking Defense that the service is “getting ready to take delivery" of a drone prototype, now confirmed as Boeing's Ghost Bat.
On Next Generation Air Dominance program, US eyes cooperation with allies
The US has begun discussing collaboration on next-gen air superiority technologies with Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said.
‘It has to work’: Inside the military’s race to solve an ejection seat safety conundrum
Fear over a defective part led to grounding and inspection of hundreds of planes. After all that, only four problems were actually discovered. Was shutting down flight operations worth it?
After months of waiting, Biden’s National Security Strategy is ‘coming soon’
"I think you will see the themes largely unchanged [from the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance released in March 2021],” said Cara Abercrombie, deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for defense policy and arms control for the White House.
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Powering the future: Securing America with domestically made microelectronics
Onshoring and investment in military-specific semiconductors anchor a cornerstone of the defense industrial base.
Pentagon inspector general has questions about the Air Force’s sixth-gen fighter
The Pentagon's inspector general wants to look into whether the Next Generation Air Dominance program was mature enough to enter the engineering and manufacturing development phase. However, the program may have never officially entered EMD.
With Russian industrial base in shambles, US looks for arms sale ‘opportunities’
"Countries that have heretofore relied on Russian equipment are going to find it very difficult to get even basic supplies coming through because of this weakened defense industrial base. So it is an opportunity," said Cara Abercrombie, deputy assistant to the president and the White House’s coordinator for defense policy and arms control.
AFSOC AC-130J gunship to fire laser weapon in flight test in 2023
Flight demos will take place in summer or fall 2023, but it remains unclear whether development will turn into a bonafide program of record.
China ‘on track’ for 6th-gen fighter, US Air Force needs to get there first: ACC chief
America's Chinese "frenemies" are "not having a debate over the relevance of six-gen air dominance. And I can also tell you they're on track," said Air Combat Command head Gen. Mark Kelly.
Air Force cyber resilience in focus
Cyber resilience has become a frontline mission for the US military. Breaking Defense’s new eBook rounds up key reporting from the 2025 Alamo ACE conference with the latest developments in cyber offense and defense.
US, partners meeting on Sept. 28 on industrial strategies for arming Ukraine
The meeting “will include a call for production support for things like gun barrels, ball bearings, and steel casings,” as well as obsolescent parts and microchips, a senior defense official said.
Air Force selects Raytheon in $985M hypersonic cruise missile contract
If HACM development continues to progress, the weapon could become the first scramjet-powered, hypersonic air-launched cruise missile to be introduced into the Air Force's inventory.
AFSOC commander cautiously optimistic on V-22 clutch problem, though root cause elusive
“I was asking myself, what would I say to myself in the aftermath of fatal mishap if we discovered that the reason for this was this clutch issue,” said AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. Jim Slife. “Would I look back and say that I did everything that I could do today? And I couldn't answer that in the affirmative.”
Air National Guard director wants boost to F-15EX buy
“Some people are still looking at this as a 1970s-technology aircraft. It is not,” Lt. Gen. Michael Loh, head of the Air National Guard, said of the F-15EX.