AFSOC Ospreys Armor Up After Painful Lessons Learned In South Sudan

AFSOC Ospreys Armor Up After Painful Lessons Learned In South Sudan
AFSOC Ospreys Armor Up After Painful Lessons Learned In South Sudan

When three CV-22s were riddled with 119 rounds of AK-47 and .50 caliber fire as they tried to land at Bor, South Sudan, 18 months ago to evacuate U.S. citizens from a civil war, four Navy SEALs in the lead Osprey were wounded. Now a Florida company is providing the program office at Naval Air Systems Command…

F-35 May Still Visit Farnborough; All 98 Engines Inspected

F-35 May Still Visit Farnborough; All 98 Engines Inspected
F-35 May Still Visit Farnborough; All 98 Engines Inspected

FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW:  Frank Kendall, the head Pentagon buyer, appeared here today on a high-powered panel of senior Pentagon civilians and industry leaders, and averred that the F-35A fire last month does not pose a systemic risk to the program. Air Force Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, head of the F-35 program, told a packed room…

Navy Cagey, Boeing Cocky, Over F-18’s Future

Navy Cagey, Boeing Cocky, Over F-18’s Future
Navy Cagey, Boeing Cocky, Over F-18’s Future

PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION: “My job is to preserve options and that’s what I do,” said Capt. Francis Morley, Navy program manager for the F-18 fighter family. Will the Navy press ahead to buy more F-18s in the face of what seems pretty determined opposition from the Office of Secretary of Defense, eager to…

F-35B Jump Jet Makes Its First Vertical Landing At Night (VIDEO)

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has had more than its share of ups and downs, but this week the jump-jet variant of the JSF had an up and down of historic significance: On April 2nd, a Marine Corps F-35B conducted the first ever short take-off and vertical landing that aircraft has ever done at night.…

Rear Adm. Mark Darrah Leaves F-35 Program For Patuxent River

RADM Mark Darrah leaves F-35 to take over NAVAIR’s famed Pax River test center http://aol.it/R90KfF. DoD release @ http://1.usa.gov/W2hvh4 SydneyFreedberg

Drone On A Wire: Marines ‘Land’ New RQ-21 UAV By Snagging It With Cable

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, MARYLAND: Most drones land the same way manned airplanes do, on a runway. But what if you don’t have a runway? Well, with an unmanned aerial vehicle called the RQ-21, Marines can string up a cable and snag the drone out of the sky. The military and unmanned aerial vehicle…

X-47B Carrier Drone Passes Air Worthiness Tests; Carrier Takeoffs, Landings Next Year

WASHINGTON: The unmanned aircraft most likely to become the first to takeoff and land on aircraft carriers is moving to the next phase of testing, moving from Edwards Air Force Base to the Navy’s main operational test site at Patuxent River, Md. The X-47B, also known as the Navy’s UCAS-D, soared higher than 15,000 feet…

New JSF Software Boasts Voice Commands; It’s Not Siri But…

PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION: You climb up into your new Joint Strike fighter in your flight suit, pull on the flight helmet and say, “Hey darling, It’s Squirt. Set up my screens the way I like em and let’s go get some bad guys.” OK. The latest software in Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter…