Kessel Run origin story
During his deployment, as a multi-million-dollar drone tracked the enemy ground vehicles, Capt. Kroger used Google Earth to estimate distance and then crudely time the […]
Programs
Will the MQ-9 follow the digital century-series pattern?
The Air Force is looking for a replacement to the stalwart MQ-9 Reaper and intends to explore options ranging from commercial drones built by emerging tech […]
Here are the pilot programs for the new Software Budget Appropriation
The separation of software development [funding] into research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E), procurement, and operations & maintenance (O&M) appropriations — and the use of […]
GAO agrees with Air Force in light attack aircraft protest decision
The protester argues that the Air Force’s decision to acquire aircraft from Textron pursuant to the agency’s authority under 10 U.S.C. § 2373 does not […]
Air Force partners with commercial industry to accelerate “flying cars”
Another example of smarter acquisition is Agility Prime, a non-traditional program seeking to operationalize commercial electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles (i.e., “flying cars”) […]
What will military aviation look like in 2050? A lot like 2020?
On average, the Army’s aircraft are 14 years old, and the Department of the Navy’s are 16 years old; the Air Force’s aircraft, on average, […]
Can the F-35 reach $25K per flying hour target by FY 2033? It depends…
It’s possible for the F-35 program to reach its target of $25,000 per flying hour, but only if there’s a substantial change… The F-35 […]
Does Lockheed own all F-35 data created by military users? Problems of IP.
“We still have concerns, there still are roadblocks as we go to execute,” Fick said. “Everything from something as simple as U.S. government documents that […]
CVN-78 will not operate the F-35C, even though its DD&C contract was awarded after F-35 LRIP 2
The plane couldn’t have been included in the designs for the first two of four planned Ford carriers, one Navy official told me, because the […]
Was there a defect cover up on the Virginia Class submarine?
A Sept. 26 whistleblower complaint accuses shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls of falsifying quality tests on the stealth coating of Virginia Class attack submarines, thus “knowingly and/or […]
Air Force gets real on the century series aircraft strategy
Dr. Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, officially stood up the Program Executive Office for Advanced Aircraft during […]
Skepticism about carrier costs — they’re growing faster than may be reported
The carrier Ford’s construction costs seem way out of line even allowing for traditional first-in-class elevated costs. In fact, carrier costs seem to have been increasing […]
What’s the rush with the JEDI defense cloud contract?
While the Pentagon’s long-awaited colossal cloud-computing deal has sparked fierce competition between tech giants Amazon and Microsoft, the Defense Department is keeping a keen eye on China’s […]
Update on GPS III — lots of moving parts
The GPS III requirements concept got started in 2000 and didn’t go through Milestone B (start of full scale development) until 2008. According to the […]
Cost per flying hour for Air Force aircraft
Here are the numbers as reported by Business Insider back in 2016: E-4 Nightwatch — $159,529 B-2 Spirit — $130,159 C-5 Galaxy — $100,941 OC-135 […]