DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — The hangar was relatively empty. Not even the Lockheed Martin C-5, some 250 feet long and 65 feet high, filled the space outright.
No maintainers milled about, no drills whirred and no hammers clanged. But the steady hum of spinning blades echoed through the chamber at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, as a drone autonomously maneuvered around the transport…
US approves sale of F-16 jets to Turkey, F-35s to Greece
January 30, 2024
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has approved the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey following the Turkish government’s ratification this week of Sweden’s membership in NATO. The move is a significant development in the expansion of the alliance, which has taken…
Upgraded F-35 deliveries slipping to fall 2024, Lockheed says
January 24, 2024
WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin’s production of the latest upgraded F-35 Joint Strike Fighters is slipping further behind schedule, and deliveries likely will not resume until the third quarter of 2024, the company said Tuesday.
Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet told investors in an…
WASHINGTON — The B-21 Raider stealth bomber is carrying out test flights at Edwards Air Force Base in California, the U.S. Air Force has confirmed.
The B-21 flew on Wednesday, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said in an email. It was not the first time the Northrop Grumman-made bomber flew since its arrival at Edwards in November 2023, but Stefanek declined to say how many flights it has taken…
Lockheed to test Patriot and Aegis integration in live-fire test
January 19, 2024
WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin will test this spring whether it can successfully integrate the U.S. Army’s latest and most capable variant of the Patriot missile with the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Combat System.
By the end of the year, Lockheed will have spent roughly $100…
What the Navy is learning from its fight in the Red Sea
January 19, 2024
Thirteen years ago, the current head of the Navy’s surface fleet was captaining the destroyer Carney.
Even in 2010, airborne drones were a threat for which his ship had tactics and munitions at the ready, Vice Adm. Brendan McLane, now the head of Naval Surface Forces, told…
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s outdated weapons-buying processes are hampering its ability to integrate innovative technology and work with nimble start-up companies. A panel of defense experts wants to change that.
The Commission on Defense Innovation Adoption, established by the Atlantic Council in 2022, issued 10 recommendations for helping the U.S. Department of Defense overcome its…
US Navy’s four unmanned ships return from Pacific deployment
January 17, 2024
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy completed its first deployment of four unmanned ships, which spent five months in the Pacific testing concepts for how to integrate their capabilities into crewed fleet operations.
The unmanned surface vessels — Sea Hunter, Sea Hawk, Mariner…
WASHINGTON — The Department of the Navy is accepting proposals for ways units and offices across the Navy and Marine Corps can spend money more wisely.
Russell Rumbaugh, the U.S. Navy comptroller, said this Running Fix initiative, directed by the service’s secretary…
The Navy is exploring a new surface fleet model that would augment a carrier strike group with additional destroyers and cruisers that the strike group did not initially deploy with, a move leaders hope will bolster readiness and improve flexibility of forces worldwide.
Such a model brings a “plug-and-play” capability to naval forces like those currently in the Middle East – allowing for a…
