Lockheed Martin displayed a model of its prospective Cuda air-to-air missile at the Air Force Association's Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando earlier today. The company had some additional details about their new weapon, but the display itself was actually tucked away in a distant corner of their booth.
This is a picture of the product card that I took--apologies
for the poor image quality.
Could live virtual constructive (LVC) training help reduce some of the F-35's soaring costs? It might, if the US Air Force, US Navy and USMC didn't need to continually cycle through fourth-generation machines or have other F-35s act as "Red Air" during training sorties. But what is clear is that the new technology will help US tactical air forces practice for beyond visual range fights much more effectively than ever before--especially if you're a Raptor driver and nobody wants to play with you (because it's not much fun dying before you even know you're under attack). However, you still need other jets to train against for those within visual range fights...
Read all about it here.
In the meantime, F-35 drivers USAF Lt Col Eric Smith and US Marine
Corps Maj Joseph "O.D." Bachmann have been busy at the 33rd Fighter
Wing. Here they are flying in formation... 
And doing aerial refuelings... Though this is actually Eric Smith in this shot.
Also the support troops have begun their formal training... (Hmmm... they appear to have better computers
than we do)
Looks like the US Army yesterday officially cancelled the contract solicitation for the Joint Air to Ground Missile (JAGM), or so says this acquisition notice. I'm working on confirming the details, but it appears that JAGM may already be history ... like it's predecessor.
[UPDATE: I jumped the gun here. JAGM is alive and well. The army just cancelled a previous draft of the RFP that stated there would be no competition. This is because there will indeed be a competition.]
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