Page 11 - Will Roper News Today

Staff Feature DEVILS LAKE - In just over two years since completing Critical Design Review (CDR), Northrop Grumman has brought its digital design of the B-21 Raider to life, with two test aircraft in production today. The Rise of the Raider is a story that began in February 2016 when Northrop Grumman initiated design and build work for the B-21, and the program has progressed rapidly in the years following. Within three years, the B-21’s design was proven stable and mature through a successfu...

By   Theresa Hitchens on February 26, 2021 at 12:10 PM MQ-9 Reaper WASHINGTON: The Air Force has completed a new intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) strategy mapping investments through 2030, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown said today. And the service is preparing now to brief Congress on the plan — which was mandated by the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, he said during a press conference on the margins of the annual Air Force Association winter meeting.  ...

By   Theresa Hitchens on February 25, 2021 at 1:00 PM F-35A Lightning II UPDATED To Include Comments From CSAF Gen. CQ Brown; Hudson Institute’s Bryan Clark WASHINGTON: The Air Force, Navy and Marines tactical aircraft fleets are all being reconsidered as part of a Joint Staff review of fighter needs for 2023 and beyond, Air Force officials tell Breaking D — raising fundamental questions about the Pentagon’s purchases of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Air Force’s...

“The F-15EX is ready to fight as soon as it comes off the line.” The F-15EX is a two-seat fighter with U.S.-only capabilities. It features a deep magazine that can carry a load of advanced weapons. The platform also requires minimal transitional training or additional manpower and little to no infrastructure changes, ensuring the continuation of the mission. “When delivered, we expect bases currently operating the F-15 to transition to the new EX platform in a matter of months versus ye...

Screengrab from "Air Force 2030 -- Call to Action" video 24 Feb 2021 The U.S. Air Force isnt ruling out bringing a new fighter jet into its inventory as it looks to replace older, fourth-generation F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft, according to the services top general. As the service tries to determine the right mix of aircraft for its future inventory, its considering the idea of a new fighter that falls somewhere between fourth- and fifth-generation airframes -- one that could easily be upgrade...

© SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images The recently declassified U.S. strategic framework on the Indo-Pacific region shows that U.S. national security policymakers — at least under Trump — envisioned India as a regional balancer to China in the Indo-Pacific.  But the strategy, which deals mostly in conventional security challenges, is missing at least half of India’s potential value in the geopolitical tug-of-war. U.S. policymakers should be working to shift a good portion of the roles C...

Share Blue Force Technologies is developing the REDMedium UAS, pictured in this concept flying with Lockheed Martin F-35As. Credit: Blue Force Technologies When Will Roper, the former U.S. Air Force acquisition chief, called for applying unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to the adversary air mission in an interview in January with Aviation Week ( AW&ST Feb. 8-21, p. 46), the founder of an experimental aircraft prototype manufacturing company in North Carolina noticed. For two years, Blue F...

By ZACHARY FRYER-BIGGS | Special To The Washington Post | Published: February 19, 2021 The camouflage-clad cadets are huddled around a miniature arena in the basement of a building dug into the cliffs on the West Point campus. Theyre watching a robotic tank about the height of a soda can with a metal spear attached whir into action. Surrounded by balloons of various colors representing either enemy fighters or civilians, the tank, acting on its own, uses a thumbnail-size camera to home in on a...

18/02/2021 a las 10:03pm The F-16 first flew 47 years ago, and the Air Force may keep it flying decades longer due to problems with the F-35 The F-16 first flew 47 years ago, and the Air Force may keep it flying decades longer due to problems with the F-35 A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon on a mission near Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, March 22, 2003. US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Cherie Thurlby Nearly 50 years after its first flight, the F-16 remains in service with air forces around the ...

US Air Force eyes budget-conscious, clean-sheet fighter jet to replace the F-16 February 18 An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 480th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron lands at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates. (Senior Airman Bryan Guthrie/U.S. Air Force) WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force could be in the market for a brand-new, advanced, fourth-generation fighter jet as it looks to replace its oldest F-16s, the service’s top general said Wednesday. The Air Force has started a s...