AI & AutonomyAutonomous KC-135 Flight Testing May Begin Next Year Flight testing of an autonomous KC-135 Stratotanker may begin next year. Boston’s Merlin Labs, Inc. and the U.S. Air Force’s 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill AFB, Fla., have been testing the…
AI & AutonomyGeneral Atomics-BAE Systems Aim to Demonstrate Autonomous EW for CCA General Atomics‘ Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) subsidiary and BAE Systems said that they are teaming to demonstrate autonomous electronic warfare (EW) systems that the companies believe could one day go on U.S.…
AI & AutonomyLeonardo’s BriteStorm May Be Future CCA Payload The U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program may be a fit for a five and a half pound BriteStorm stand-in jammer that Leonardo said that it is developing to allow the…
MilitaryRTX’s Pratt & Whitney Receives $1.3 Billion F135 Engine Core Upgrade Contract - Oct. 1 RTX‘s Pratt & Whitney has received a more than $1.3 billion cost plus incentive fee contract for the F135 Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) for the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter, DoD said on…
MilitaryUSAF Building New Site for Testing B-2 Flight Component RCS and Antenna Calibration By September next year, the U.S. Air Force is to establish a new Composite Aircraft Antenna Calibration Facility (CAACF) at Hill AFB, Utah for testing flight components’ radar cross section (RCS) and…
AI & AutonomyU.S. Air Force Trials Autonomous Flights with Joby, Reliable Robotics - AIN, Aug. 26 Joby and Reliable Robotics demonstrated military uses for their remotely piloted Cessna Grand Caravans during the Air Force Agile Flag 24-3 exercise in early August, AIN reported. The service’s Afwerx innovation unit…
MilitaryLockheed Martin Awarded $5.1 Billion in F-35 Contracts Lockheed Martin is receiving $5.1 billion in three contracts for the F-35 Lightning II fighter, including Block 4 related upgrades, DoD said on Aug. 28. The largest contract–$3.9 billion through September 2028–is…
MilitaryUSAF Awards RTX F-22 Sensor Upgrade Contract Possibly Worth More Than $1 Billion While the U.S. Air Force’s manned Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter has an uncertain future, the service is moving forward with upgrading sensors on the Lockheed Martin F-22. On Aug. 29,…
MilitaryIf Industry Reaches Price Point for Unmanned Autonomous Fighter, ‘I’ll Be Asking for It,’ LaPlante Says While the U.S. Air Force has not disclosed what its leaders are discussing on the future or lack thereof of the manned Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, DoD acquisition chief William…
MilitaryC-17 Flies with Alternative GPS Magnetic Navigation as Prime PNT System A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane by Boeing recently test flew the Silicon Valley-based SandboxAQ‘s Magnetic Navigation (MagNav) system–leveraging quantum magnetometers and artificial intelligence–as the aircraft’s prime alternative to…