Space-based capabilities could put current aerial tracking platforms in question, but top military brass have argued for options "from whatever domain or platform or system that comes [in]."
One of the key challenges for tracking enemy aircraft from space is that airplanes and drones move much faster than tanks, trucks and ships; confounded by the fact that satellites themselves also move around the Earth extremely fast.
Why edge and endpoint security can’t be an afterthought.
Under the Science and Technology Applied RF Systems program, estimated to cost a total of nearly $95 million over six years, AFRL is looking to award up to three indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts.
“We were asked to put in our offer and then they [the NATO Support and Procurement Agency] didn't really go into discussion with us, because they had already decided they had to go and buy Wedgetail," Micael Johansson, CEO at Saab told Breaking Defense.
As Breaking Defense toured Boeing's Seattle area facilities where the E-7 radar plane will take shape, company officials talked about getting the bird in the air — and their vision for what it can do.
The Air Force previously provided notice it would award the contract to Boeing in a sole-source acquisition. The first aircraft is scheduled to arrive in fiscal 2027.
The military space sector is evolving fast. Get the latest from Space Force and industry officials on what’s next for acquisition, policy and training in a new Breaking Defense eBook.
“That new start reprogramming would give us the flexibility to potentially speed it up somewhat,” said Steven Wert, who leads the Air Force's Program Executive Office Digital. “It's not going to be a dramatic speed up, but we're doing everything we can.”
Congress is worried about creating a capability gap – but FDD’s Bradley Bowman and Maj. Brian Leitzke write that it already exists. Time and money, they say, would be better spent racing towards the E-3's replacement.
The Air Force can't wait when it comes to modernizing command and control, writes the Mitchell Institute's Douglas Birkey.
"Getting the airplanes is about a two-year process, and then modifying them is another two year process," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said Tuesday. "There are things that we could do, however, to maybe get access to aircraft earlier one way or another.”
Balancing security and access to data are critical to providing users with trustworthy, reliable data for real-time decisions.
According to two sources with knowledge of the matter, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall had tasked the service’s budget corps to consider cancelling the F-15EX. Instead, it will receive a plus-up in the FY23 request.
As the service works to procure the required number of E-7As as quickly as possible, it should simultaneously implement a comprehensive plan to expedite the training of US Air Force pilots and air battle management crews.
The upcoming sole source contract to Boeing for more data on the Wedgetail suggests that the service may seek to eschew a competition.
The Air Force has valiantly breathed life into the decades-old E-3 Sentry platform, but as top service officials recently suggested, it can no longer wait for the jump to space-based systems, the authors write in this op-ed. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Bradley Bowman, Maj. Lauren Harrison and Ryan Brobst argue that as Russia […]