Despite confidence from the Air Force secretary that Congress would greenlight the F-22 divestments, lawmakers are once again inclined to keep the fighters around.
The subcommittee's mark would enable the Air Force to continue retirements of the A-10, would impose some limits on development of next-gen fighters and drones and would further ask the Army for reports on major programs.
In an exclusive op-ed, Rep. Rob Wittman, R-VA., the Vice Chairman of the HASC and Chairman of the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, lays out why he thinks efforts like the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft program could be the future of warfare.
Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said the service anticipates somewhere between 20-30 competitors to build the drones themselves, and that a similar number of contractors are already part of a vendor pool providing autonomous technologies.
Little is known about the secretive sixth-generation Next Generation Air Dominance fighter, other than it will be extremely expensive.
Following the Air Force’s decision to forego a new engine for the F-35, General Electric is taking its fight to Capitol Hill to keep the Adaptive Engine Transition Program alive.
Even with the rise of digital analysis for weapon development, nothing can replace old-fashioned wind tunnels for real-world testing of cutting-edge platforms.
Building off trends established by the fiscal 2023 budget, the service is asking for even more retirements in FY24 while seeking to launch new efforts like a program to field autonomous wingmen. “We've built a budget that we think has a reasonable balance between current-, midterm- and longer-term investments, if you will, or capabilities,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said.
Service acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said the initial tranche of collaborative combat aircraft wingmen are “very much within grasp,” with capability expected to be delivered by the end of the decade.
The Air Force started regularly flying the XQ-58 in November at Eglin.
AFA: For the foreseeable future, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told me today, when push comes to shove, personnel funding should win and modernization must wait. “If you’re asking me if I have to choose between the two, then I vote for people,” she said. “I’m going to protect people.” Of course, the Air […]