Air Force eyes massive boost for F-15EX fleet
The service’s fiscal 2027 budget shows boosts for other aircraft like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, while slowing retirements of platforms like the A-10 Warthog.
Northrop, Brazil’s Embraer partner on KC-390 to pitch US, others
Under a memorandum of understanding, Northrop will explore options to develop an autonomous boom refueling system for Embraer’s KC-390, hoping to attract US and international customers.
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Voyager is fortifying the U.S. Defense supply chain
Answering the Pentagon’s call to bolster defense industrial base.
How a ‘priority’ on next-gen tankers paved the way for more Boeing KC-46s
A recent Air Force document provides the clearest insight yet into the service’s evolving tanker strategy, as well as what might be needed to continue the production run of Boeing’s KC-46 Pegasus air refueler.
Air Force again changes course on tankers, plans new ‘production extension’ program
The Air Force plans to use the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus’s Capability Production Document “as the most affordable requirements basis” for the new program, potentially giving the embattled aerospace manufacturer a leg up in a competition.
Embraer ready to step up KC-390 tanker investment for US, pending NGAS decision
Should the Air Force say "'we're going to move now with NGAS....[or] If they say 'we have reassessed, and our plans will be different, we [at Embraer] need to adjust that investment timeline" accordingly, said Frederico Lemos, Embraer Defense and Security chief commercial officer.
‘Let’s be frank’: Hegseth’s budget shakeup will be ‘painful’ but there’s ‘hope,’ Air Force official says
As questions hang over the future of the service’s Next Generation Air Dominance stealth jet, Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel, the Air Force’s director of force design and wargaming, said that “the fight looks much better when NGAD is in it.”
Satellites at the center: Inside the Pentagon’s next-gen space architecture
From emerging data networks to missile tracking and cyber resilience, Breaking Defense’s latest eBook brings together essential reporting on the evolving role of satellites in national security.
Air Force’s outgoing acquisition chief on NGAS, CCA and his biggest regrets
Speaking to Breaking Defense, Andrew Hunter said that the CCA loyal wingman program is proof the Air Force can move forward in new directions.
China ‘could beat us to the punch’ to a 6th-gen fighter, Air Force official warns
“It's fair to say we pay a lot of attention to what the Chinese are doing. And so, not everything that becomes public is a shock,” Andrew Hunter said when asked about new images of purported Chinese fighters. “But having said that, their pace is incredibly fast.”
Embraer targets prime status in US defense market
“This strategy to become a supplier of the US government is not a project that I have created inside of my business unit only. It is a 'One Embraer' approach,” Embraer Defense and Security CEO Bosco da Costa Jr told Breaking Defense.
EXCLUSIVE: L3Harris, Embraer no longer working together to pitch C-390 to US
“I think it’s fair to say that the L3 partnership is not there anymore for the agile tanker,” Embraer Defense and Security CEO Bosco da Costa Jr. told Breaking Defense. “They decided not to move on [it] because of other priorities.”
Air Force’s interim tanker buy in limbo as service mulls next-gen refueler timeline
A recent request for information for NGAS to industry represents a new approach that seeks to gather feedback from more vendors earlier in the procurement process, according to Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter.
Air Force identifies new category 1 deficiency on KC-46 refueler
Initial flight tests showed that a mitigation technique "look[s] very promising" as an interim solution, an Air Force official said, suggesting the issue could be downgraded relatively soon.
Air Force RFI targets engine options for NGAS tankers
Responses will help shape analysis for the tanker program, known as the Next Generation Air refueling System.
Air Force acquisition chief on tanker plans and negotiations with Boeing
"We just kind of need to get their no-kidding ground truth of, ‘this is what we think we can deliver and when we think we can deliver it,'" Andrew Hunter, the service's acquisition chief, said in a Sept. 5 interview at the Pentagon.