By Associated Press Jan 28, 2016 TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Sonic booms heard and felt along the eastern shoreline were caused by military fighter jets conducting tests, officials said. An F-35C, which has a top speed of nearly 1,200 mph, and an F-18 from Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland were conducting supersonic testing […]
By Joe Ferguson January 16, 2016 Arizona Sen. John McCaincredits the fight against the ISIS terror group for postponing the retirement of the military’s A-10 Thunderbolt II jet, which has a huge presence at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. ‘If you had to give the majority of credit somewhere, I would give it to Mr. Baghdadi […]
By Lara Seligman January 28, 2016 WASHINGTON — Ahead of President Barack Obama’s budget rollout next week, an influential Air Force pilot-turned lawmaker called on the commander-in-chief and his defense secretary to request full funding for the legacy A-10 until plans for its replacement take shape. “As you finalize the Department of Defense’s (DOD) budget request for fiscal […]
By Phillip Swarts December 28, 2015 After 15 years in development and a planned $1.5 trillion investment in the program, the Air Force’s divisive, longawaited fifth-generation fighter is expected to finally be ready for limited operations in 2016. Once the F-35 Lightning II, built by Lockheed Martin, reaches initial operating capability, the Air Force will […]
By Thad Moore December 14, 2015 PINELLAS PARK — Daniel Conroy knows the F-35 Lightning II program has had its problems, delayed for years and costing far more than first expected. But the Pentagon’s ambitious fighter jet project is finally back on track, says Conroy, director of the Air Force F-35 program for Lockheed Martin, […]
By Lara Seligman January 15, 2016 WASHINGTON – The Pentagon and engine maker Pratt & Whitney have reached a handshake agreement on the ninth and tenth batches of F135 engines to power the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the department announced today. The ninth and tenth low rate initial production (LRIP) contracts will cover 66 and […]
By Sandra I. Erwin January 18, 2016 PALMDALE, Calif. — “Exploratory teams” of government officials periodically are seen in this part of southern California, checking the pulse of the aerospace industry at a time when the Pentagon is under growing pressure to innovate and can no longer afford to do business as usual. The changing […]
By Phillip Swarts December 14, 2015 If the Air Force wants to be effective in future conflicts, it must rethink the way it handles electronic warfare, a retired general said Dec. 1. “Currently there’s no data link between the F-22 and F-35 that would allow them to share targeting data,” said retired Lt. Gen. David […]
By Aaron Mehta December 14, 2015 ThePentagonexpectstomake“disproportionate” cuts to modernization and research and development funding in its fiscal 2017 budget request, while personnel and readiness remain stable, according to the department’s top acquisition official. Those cuts may well include a slowdown in F-35 production. Overall, the cuts could slow down the much ballyhooed “Third Offset” […]
BY SVEN BERG DECEMBER 23, 2015 Some Boiseans believe the deciders have made up their minds to bring louder military jets to Boise. Many of these people live near the airport, so they’d be most affected by the noise. They suspect their concerns don’t matter to the city government, Idaho Air National Guard and U.S. […]