U.S. Air Force (USAF)

By Steve Trimble
The USAF may have to convert some F-35s with outdated avionics to combat roles due to the ongoing, “deeply concerning” delays with software certification.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force is evaluating bids from Airbus and Boeing for a planned replacement of the KC-135 ahead of a future tanker.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
Reengining the C-17 and adding low-cost connectivity upgrades emerge as top priorities for Air Mobility Command.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Brian Everstine
The Pentagon will lift its more than 90-day grounding of the Bell Boeing V-22 tiltrotor fleet, the head of a House committee investigating the aircraft announced March 6.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
Saudi Arabia and India will test the new appeal of the Embraer tanker-transport in a tactical airlift market long monopolized by Lockheed Martin.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Mark Carreau
NASA raised the number of its active duty astronauts eligible for missions from 38 to 48 on March 5 with the graduation of its 2021 class of 10 candidates.
Space

By Chen Chuanren
The U.S. Air Force is putting its Lockheed Martin F-35A through its paces in the type’s most complex deployment to the Asia Pacific.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
A Boeing acquisition of all or part of Spirit AeroSystems could be, if consummated, a surprise coup for the former’s defense business.
Supply Chain

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. military in the coming days will start a campaign of air dropping aid to Palestinians in Gaza, President Joe Biden announced March 1.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Garrett Reim
The public-private fellowship partnership placed officers, enlisted personnel and DOD civilians into startups, accelerators and venture capital firms.
Supply Chain

By Guy Norris
An airline operator pre-working group will guide plans for the commercial blended wing body as subscale flight tests pave way for a multirole demonstrator.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems announced Feb. 29 that its XA-67A Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) flew for the first time the day before.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
A long-standing provision in the U.S. code to block investments in retiring weapon systems may negatively impact the ground leg of the nation’s nuclear triad.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
A decades-old ambition to make multiday, ultralong-endurance flight a reality is quietly solidifying within the U.S. military after a series of failures and false starts.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
A Boeing F-15 is still quite fast, but not nearly Mach 3, the company’s program manager said on Feb. 23, correcting a previous statement.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The tenure of Frank Calvelli as the Department of the U.S. Air Force’s space acquisition boss has been defined by a few key tenets.
Space

By Tony Osborne
Norway has joined the growing number of C-130J Hercules operators to begin upgrading its aircraft to the Block 8.1 standard.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
Collaboration defines the operational role of a new class of autonomous combat systems as well a new model for foreign industry partners.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
Over the past few months, the service, largely through its newly renamed Airman Development Command (ADC), has released a series of requests for information.
Light Attack and Advanced Training

By Ben Goldstein
Joby Aviation has announced completion of the third stage of the FAA’s five-step aircraft type certification process.
Advanced Air Mobility

By Brian Everstine
New command, Pentagon offices will be tasked with solely looking at future acquisition.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force is finally nearly ready to start flight testing a communications pod for the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
U.S. startup Pivotal has four of eight BlackFly ultralight eVTOL vehicles for evaluation by the USAF's AFWerx innovation unit under the Agility Prime program.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
A new effort to build and refurbish engine parts in-house has started to turn around powerplant problems with the U.S. Air Force’s T-38 trainer.
Aircraft & Propulsion