Even as developmental hurdles for the T-7A remain, a top Air Force official and representatives from Boeing expressed confidence that the trainer's recently re-baselined schedule could be met.
The Air Force has ordered 46 simulators and associated ground equipment, but can purchase up to 120 simulators under the current contract with Boeing.
The Sixth Domain is not defined by geography. It’s a new kind of conflict in which autonomy and networked systems allow thousand-dollar consumer electronics to destroy multi-million-dollar conventional weapons systems.
"All I can say is that the NGAD test flights have been amazing -- records have been broken," Will Roper says.
CORRECTED: Removed Reference To AT-6, Which Is Not Derived From T-6 WASHINGTON: The basic training plane for Air Force pilots, the propeller-driven T-6 Texan, is returning to flight almost one month after being grounded after a series of unexplained physiological events (what we used to call suspected hypoxia incidents). As is the case with most such […]
AFA ORLANDO: The Air Force, which relies on large vulnerable targets known as JSTARS, AWACS, Rivet Joint and other aircraft, knows it may need to shift its reliance on big, largely indefensible planes to fused networks of sensors as they are doing with JSTARS. That was the word from Gen. Mike Holmes here today when […]
PENTAGON: It’s explicit: China is the Air Force’s “pacing threat.” That was the clearest message from Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, who met with the press the day after the Pentagon budget’s release. China’s rapid modernization is driving the Air Force to respond, Wilson said, though she declined to detail any of the service’s efforts […]
As threats rapidly evolve, digital engineering, manufacturing capacity and robust supply chains are critical to meeting challenges.
WASHINGTON: Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson says new hires for crucial pilot and cyber slots, as well as the T-X trainer system contract award, may not survive the year if Congress passes a Continuing Resolution, as expected. Wilson told my colleagues at Defense News and Air Force Times earlier today that “the T-X contract award […]
The Air Force already has a big hole in its capabilities for the future: it needs what it is calling Penetrating Counter Air, a very fast, long-range, sensor-loaded and furiously lethal aircraft. But that effort is designed to fill a need in 2030. Dave Deptula, head of the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute and […]
PARIS AIR SHOW: With the competition for the US Air Force’s T-X trainer system increasingly seen as a battle between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, it’s easy to overlook perhaps the most intriguing entry: DRS, the US subsidiary of European aerospace giant, Leonardo. Almost everyone who looks at the fairly raucous battle — Northrop was in, […]
This year saw the first test of a major shift in acquisition law, pushed by Sen. John McCain, to place more power in the hands of the four armed services. When the bill was still being debated, the Pentagon’s top acquisition official, Frank Kendall, warned that McCain’s move to boost the power of the service chiefs to […]
Breaking Defense Europe will launch May 4 with Tim Martin and Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo as co-editors.