BY : Army Times Publishing

The U.S. Air Force should have the ability to refuel satellites instead of letting them run out of propellant and die in orbit, Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne told a group of reporters April 9 at the National Space Symposium here.

It's not a new technology.


"We've been looking at refueling since the space shuttle was a dream in someone's eye," said Gary Payton, the deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for space programs.

BY : Army Times




The U.S. Navy is mulling proposals to bridge a "strike fighter gap" next decade by buying more F/A-18 E/F fighters or delaying the naval version of F-35 Lightning II, and that's worrying other Joint Strike Fighter customers.


"The Navy is definitely looking at another buy of F-18s and both accelerating or slowing down F-35, and we have run some numbers to help them answer their questions," said Air Force Maj. Gen. C.R. Davis, the F-35 program executive officer. "Any time there is a discussion of a service or country pulling out airplanes from the program, the other service leaderships get very concerned. But we have told the Navy that buying them sooner at greater rates gives you a lower cost and more capability on your decks than any other buying profile."
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BY : Reuters

The U.S. Navy is nearing an announcement on a new unmanned surveillance plane to replace its aging P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft, a deal being contested by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), defense sources said on Monday.

After several delays, Pentagon acquisition chief John Young and other top defense officials were due this week to review the Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program, which is valued at over $3 billion in the longer term, according to two sources familiar with the program.

BY : Boeing PR



Boeing on Monday began final assembly of the first P-8A Poseidon for the U.S. Navy. The P-8A will provide increased capability in long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The start of final assembly follows closely on the heels of Spirit AeroSystems' delivery of the first P-8A fuselage to Boeing in Renton, Wash. Mechanics loaded the fuselage into a tooling fixture and began installing systems, wires, tubing and other small parts. Boeing will join the P-8A's wings to its body later this year.

BY : Reuters




The cost of each Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) F-35 fighter jet has soared 38 percent since 2001, but costs have been virtually unchanged over the past year, according to a Pentagon document obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.

The F-35 program is the most expensive weapons program in U.S. history. The Pentagon is developing versions of the fighter for the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, and to sell to other countries.

BY : Bruce Rolfsen For Airforcetimes

What high-tech tools and instructions were F-22A maintainers given to detect loose stealth coatings on engine inlets?

A flashlight and instructions to tap the inlet with their fingers.

An Air Combat Command accident investigation board concluded that an F-22A taking off Nov. 1 from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., suffered more than $1 million in damage to its No. 2 engine after it sucked in a loose 6-by-8 inch section of the jet’s stealth coating.

BY : Forbes



There's no doubt that March has been a turbulent month for Boeing--the company recently filed a formal protest of the award of a $35 billion contract for air force refueling planes to a team headed by Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.

Then the leasing company that's the largest customer for Boeing's (nyse: BA - news - people ) 787 Dreamliner gave word that structural changes to where the plane's wings attach to the fuselage would further delay the 787's first flight by three to six months.

In the past 30 days, Boeing shares have slid 8.13% vs. a flat S&P 500.

But smoother skies could be ahead, thanks to prospects for an extended civilian aerospace up-cycle and the little-noted possibility that Boeing could see an increase in foreign military sales.

BY : Bloomberg News

Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter, already the most expensive weapons program ever, is projected to increase in price by as much as $38 billion, congressional auditors said Tuesday.

That would bring the cost to develop and build 2,458 U.S. aircraft to $337 billion, 45 percent above the estimate when the program started in October 2001.

“Midway through development, the program is over cost and behind schedule,” Michael Sullivan, who tracks the program for the U.S. Government Accountability

BY : AP



The world's first attack aircraft to employ stealth technology is slipping quietly into history.

The inky black, angular, radar-evading F-117, which spent 27 years in the Air Force arsenal secretly patrolling hostile skies from Serbia to Iraq, will be put in mothballs next month in Nevada.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, which manages the F-117 program, will have an informal, private retirement ceremony Tuesday with military leaders, base employees and representatives from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

BY : Thehill

Facing a delay with Bell-Textron’s new armed reconnaissance helicopter, Army aviation officials and Boeing Co. are making their case to Congress for hundreds of millions of dollars to buy more battle-tested Apache Longbow choppers.

The Army has converted most of its older Boeing Apache models, the AH-64 A, into the more capable, high-tech Apache Longbows, or AH-64 D. The Longbow can shoot more rounds, at faster speeds and longer distances, than the earlier models. It is also safer for its two-man crew.The Army National Guard still employs Apache A models. Four Apache A-model battalions, totaling 92 helicopters, were supposed to be replaced with Bell’s armed reconnaissance helicopter rather than Longbows.