The Government Accountability Office’s annual weapon system assessment also found that the Air Force is moving to field a hypersonic attack cruise missile in 2027, despite delays driving a compressed flight testing schedule.
While the Air Force will originally focus on a competition to place new ejection seats in the service's F-16 fleet, “decisions following the competition could extend to other platforms, including the F-22 and B-1," the Air Force said.
Modeling and simulation get an AI upgrade for more realistic training and improved autonomous platforms.
“We have 141 bombers in the inventory,” said Air Force Gen. Thomas Bussiere. “The demand signal for the bombers is greater than any time I’ve seen in my career, across the fabric of every geographic combatant command.”
The Air Force is nearing a decision on whether to recompete an ejection seat contract held by Collins. If the service changes course, it will send shockwaves through the duopoly that fights over every potential ejection seat sale.
With only 20 bombers in the service’s fleet, that could translate to roughly $350 million in work per plane.
The Air Force recently confirmed the secretive plane was continuing flight testing out of Edwards Air Force Base.
Explore how networked warfare, AI, and 3D-printed drones are reshaping US Indo-Pacific strategy.
The US government will pay for all facilities it builds on Norwegian soil, and will not permanently base any troops there, officials in Oslo were quick to point out.
"I guess if someone were to take a message [from the basing agreement] it’s that we’re not restricted to one particular location," said Gen. Steven Basham, deputy commander of Air Forces in Europe/Africa.
"Contrary to most opinions, mission capable rates are actually increasing," says Air Force Vice Chief Gen. Stephen Wilson, "but it's one of the things we're keeping an eye on."
Bombers are the ultimate chess pieces in the US national security plan. Bombers are also a scarce resource, and, personally, I’m worried about retiring even a single one of the U.S. Air Force’s bombers. Until the new B-21 Raider bomber squadrons fill out, years from now, there’s nowhere to turn for more. It’s not just me. Hear […]
CDAO’s Advana data analytics platform is ingesting data from about 500 DoD business systems.
Fifth gen or fourth gen? F-35A or F-15X. Stealth, sensors and fusion or lots of missiles? Lockheed or Boeing? See what the Mitchell Institute says.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James traveled through Asia, visiting Indonesia, India, Singapore, and the Philippines at the end of the summer. We didn’t hear a great deal about the trip in the US at the time but her meetings with her defense counterparts clearly impressed. In this op-ed, James shares the lessons she learned. China […]
CAPITOL HILL: Gen. Robin Rand, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, made it pretty clear he’d like more than the 100 B-21 bombers to which the service is currently committed. He would probably like close to half again that many. Rand told a Mitchell Institute breakfast that the US currently has 156 bombers “in our […]
The authors are with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster issued a warning April 5 to the Senate Armed Services Airland subcommittee saying that the service will be “…outranged and outgunned by many potential adversaries in the future….” This statement garnered much attention in the media, but it artificially assesses Army capabilities […]