US Air Force (USAF) pilots could fly as early as April or May the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that are being offered for the service's Agility Prime programme, said Will Roper, who formally resigned on 20 January .
The US Air Force (USAF) has downselected Northrop Grumman as the sole contractor to complete final project efforts to provide the electronic warfare (EW) suite for the service's Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon fleet. Northrop Grumman sp.
US lawmakers strengthen JSTARS aircraft retirement requirements
06 January 2021
by Pat Host
US lawmakers have made it more difficult for the US Air Force (USAF) to retire its Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) aircraft.
The fiscal year (FY) 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) eliminates a previous provision that required the USAF to first declare initial operational capability (IOC) for Increment 2 of the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) internet-of-things (IoT) combat concept before retiring JSTARS aircraft. IOC is a point in time during the production and deployment phase where a system can meet the minimum operational capabilities.
Formula 1 vehicle racing digital engineering practices inspire US Air Force s Roper
by Pat Host
The US Air Force’s (USAF’s) acquisition executive is drawing inspiration from a Formula 1 racing team’s digital engineering practices as he tries to apply these concepts to the service’s next-generation aircraft.
Will Roper, USAF assistant secretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics (AT&L), said on 18 December that Formula 1 teams perform digital engineering across a racing season from their first conversation. These racing teams, he said, deal with 85% parts obsolescence year to year and digitally design, spiral, and evolve cars around such obstacles. They even optimise their vehicles for individual race tracks.
Boeing, US Navy fly MQ-25A test asset in aerial refuelling configuration for the first time
by Pat Host
Boeing and the US Navy (USN) flew the MQ-25A Stingray unmanned refuelling and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) T1 test asset in its aerial refuelling configuration for the first time on 9 December, according to a company statement.
Cobham Mission Systems’ underwing-mounted refuelling buddy store flew on the MQ-25A T1 test asset, according to Cobham. A buddy store is an external pod, located on an aircraft hard point such as an ejector rack. It contains the equipment for “buddy tanking” another aircraft using a hose and drogue air-to-air refuelling system. Cobham said that the test helped to validate the MQ-25A’s aerodynamics while carrying existing refuelling equipment.