All United States Air Force articles – Page 16
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Northrop battling to retain JSTARS as Lockheed, Boeing bid on recap
An effort to recapitalise the Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) with a modern business jet is shaping up to be this summer’s blockbuster defence programme, with three solid industry teams now vying for the $6.5 billion prize and Raytheon working on a curious new airborne ...
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NewsF-35 gun tests start while US Marines await IOC decision
Activity on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme has reached fever pitch, with the US Air Force now testing the aircraft’s 25mm Gatling gun and a Marine Corps IOC decision imminent.
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NewsUSAF rules out international A-10 sales
The US Air Force has closed the lid on discussions about shopping the A-10 Warthog to allies, telling Flightglobal it will not sell the close-in attack aircraft to anyone.
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NewsUSAF Rude Rams fighter squadron reactivates to support F-35 IOC
The first US Air Force fighter squadron destine to fly combat-coded F-35A Joint Strike Fighters has been reactivated at Hill Air Force Base in Utah as the flying branch prepares to declare initial operational capability in August 2016.
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NewsNASA and USAF study effect of volcanic ash on C-17 engines
Researchers at Edwards Air Force Base in California have begun ingesting C-17 engines with volcanic ash to trial new health monitoring and diagnosis technologies that could improve aircraft safety and fault detection.
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NewsUSAF still hoping for 18 KC-46A tankers by 2017 despite slip
The US Air Force’s programme executive officer for tankers is cautiously optimistic that Boeing can deliver its first 18 operational KC-46A Pegasus aircraft by August 2017 as required, but says he doesn’t have his “head in the sand” either.
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NewsUSAF reaffirms ambitious T-X sustained-g requirement
The US Air Force is not backing away from the ambitious sustained g requirement for its T-X next-generation trainer that has sidelined at least two proposed aircraft types and driven competitors toward clean-sheet designs.
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NewsUSAF doing more to help foreign sales of American aircraft
The US Air Force’s top acquisition executive says the service wants to do more to support the sale of American-made aircraft and parts abroad, and one proposal that is gaining momentum is to complete airworthiness certification even before foreign military sales (FMS) case emerges.
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NewsUS lawmaker keen to speed up bomber buy
The chairman of the influential US House committee on strategic forces says the air force’s long-range strike bomber fleet should be delivered sooner than the current estimates, which place “initial capability in the 2020s” and full capability in the 2030s.
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OpinionOPINION: Ageing US nuclear bombers not fit for a superpower
The United States’ nuclear bomber force has something of a morale problem.
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NewsLockheed Legion Pod takes flight on F-16
Lockheed Martin has flight tested its new Legion Pod infrared search-and-track system for the first time on its F-16 Fighting Falcon in Fort Worth, Texas, as the US Air Force explores upgrades to make its legacy fighters more competitive against modern airborne threats.
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NewsUSAF’s ultra-lethal carbon fibre bomb approved for export
The United States plans to export an advanced, tungsten-laden bomb that is designed to cause less collateral damage than its predecessors, but be more lethal.
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NewsNew report pokes holes in USAF’s argument for retiring the A-10
The US Government Accountability Office has raised doubts about an air force claim that retiring the A-10C Warthog would save the government $4.2 billion over five years, and says capability gaps will emerge without close-in attack aircraft.
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NewsUPDATE: F-16 belonging to Iraqi Air Force crashes in Arizona
The US Air Force has confirmed that one of the Iraqi Air Force’s brand new Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons has crashed in the Arizona desert in an apparent training accident.
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NewsBombers or boomers? DoD faces a nuclear spending dilemma
The greatest threat to the US long-range strike bomber (LRS-B) programme could be a submarine, with a new report showing that modernisation of the sea-based leg of the USA’s nuclear triad dwarfs planned spending on airborne assets
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OpinionOPINION: After a $100bn spend, it's time for F-35 to deliver
More than $100 billion has already been spent on developing, testing, fixing and producing about 130 Lockheed Martin F-35s for the US government. In a few weeks or months, the US taxpayer also will have the first 10 combat-ready F-35Bs for that investment.
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News
AC-130W crews to get JHMCS advance
The US Special Operations Command's Lockheed Martin AC-130W crews are to be equipped with the joint helmet-mounted cueing system (JHMCS), in the first application for the design on a transport platform.
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NewsUSMC continues Nepalese aid delivery as search for missing helo continues
US Marine Corps assets - including the Bell Helicopter UH-1Y Huey rotorcraft - are continuing the delivery of aid to victims of the earthquakes in Nepal, as the search continues for a Huey that went missing following a second earthquake on 12 May.
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NewsPhilippines controls aircraft from USAF AWACS
For the first time the Philippine air force (PAF) demonstrated air-to-air operations of indigenous aircraft from a US Air Force Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft, during Exercise Balikatan at Clark AFB in the Philippines.
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Opinion
OPINION: Why the US military must do more with less
Another 2,000 aircraft are projected to exit the US military’s inventory over the next decade. For the fleets of many countries, this would be an existential crisis. But this is the American fleet, so it is only a 15% cut.