Vanessa Montalbano

The Air Force is forging ahead with plans to shift HH-60W Jolly Green IIs in the backup inventory into a VIP transport role at Joint Base Andrews, MD, as the service gradually retires its fleet of aging UH-1N Huey helicopters.

The Air Force yesterday awarded Boeing a sole-source contract with a $131.23 billion ceiling for work associated with the F-15 Eagle Crest program, according to a notice from the Pentagon. The work involves aircraft production, systems integration, modernization, upgrades, retrofits, sustainment and “the establishment of organic depot maintenance capabilities to deliver and maintain critical F-15 Eagle Weapon System capabilities,"according to the Defense Department. The Air Force in May announced it was establishing a brand-new repair capability...

The Pentagon's most expensive weapon system ever has gotten even pricier, with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program now costing about $51 billion more than it did in December 2023, according to a new government report. Altogether, the revised overall estimate to acquire both the F-35 aircraft and F135 engine totals roughly $536.2 billion -- a 10% increase compared to the $485.2 billion the procurement program was estimated to cost in 2023, according to the recently released modernized...

An Air Force plan to more than double its overall buy of F-15EX Eagle II jets may be complicated by diminishing manufacturing sources and an overhaul of certain aircraft subsystems, potentially causing further delays, according to a new government report. Since the proposal to increase F-15EX buys to 267 from 129 was only recently unveiled, the Air Force said it doesn't yet have a new cost estimate for the program but that it is actively being re-baselined. “To manage immediate...

LYNN, MA -- GE Aerospace will enter the next phase of development for its air-launched, air-breathing hypersonic testbed as part of the Defense Innovation Unit’s Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities initiative, company officials told reporters today. “This is a significant milestone for us, and it is a path to getting an all-up round into flight,” Doogie Russell, general manager and vice president of GE’s Edison Works division, told reporters during a visit to the firm's facilities here. The...

Boeing’s MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter has achieved initial operational capability and can begin patrolling the Air Force’s nuclear missile silos as the service’s Vietnam-era UH-1N Hueys are gradually replaced, Air Force Global Strike Command announced yesterday. The chopper, which officially received the designation on Aug. 10, has been tip-toeing toward IOC for years after missing its original 2021 projection. Still, this new milestone is over a year behind schedule compared to the Grey Wolf program’s most recent predictions because...

The Air Force Research Laboratory is surveying the industrial base’s ability to create a modular, air-launched hypersonic weapon, according to a new notice issued today.

The Air Force is accelerating efforts to develop and field a replacement for the MQ-9 Reaper, which service leaders said on Sept. 3 have been lost during Operation Epic Fury “at a rate that is concerning to us."The new program, dubbed Massed Modular Aircraft, will be significantly cheaper than Reapers are but still be slotted for the medium-altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission, Lt. Gen. Christopher Niemi, the Air Force’s chief modernization officer, told reporters during a briefing at...

The Air Force has decided to replace all of the T-38C Talons at Sheppard Air Force Base, TX, with new T-7A Red Hawk training jets, according to a Federal Register notice issued today.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is pitching its new Wildfire drone as a replacement for the firm's MQ-9A Reaper following sweeping losses in Operation Epic Fury.