DefenseNews

Boeing pushes back T-7 plans due to faulty parts

February 6, 2024
Boeing said Friday that quality problems with parts slated for the T-7A Red Hawk training jet mean it will delay by several months delivering the next test aircraft to the Air Force. Boeing is also now planning to start low-rate initial production on the T-7 in mid-2024, several months later than the company’s original plan. Boeing vice president and T-7 program manager Evelyn Moore told Defense…
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US Navy works on war response plan amid Red Sea ship surge

January 31, 2024
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is working on a new wartime response plan that would affect how ships and crews prepare and deploy for combat, according to the head of U.S. Fleet Forces Command. This comes as the Navy experiences firsthand in the Middle East what it requires to…
DefenseNews

Air Force’s electric aircraft test ends with simulated casualty evac

January 31, 2024
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force’s three-month test of an electric aircraft at Duke Field in Florida wrapped up this month and included a simulated casualty evacuation exercise. Beta Technologies said in a Monday release that its Alia aircraft took part in a casualty evacuation scenario with the 41st Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia this month. It was the first such simulated…
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Mideast waters challenge unmanned vessels, says US Navy leader

January 30, 2024
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Operational and environmental challenges in Middle Eastern waters are hindering the pace of innovation around unmanned surface vessels, according to the chief of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. “You bring things out, they look good on…
DefenseNews

Boeing expands drone exams to Lockheed C-5 with eye on broader fleet

January 30, 2024
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…
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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…
DefenseNews

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…
DefenseNews

B-21 Raider bomber conducts test flights at Edwards Air Force Base

January 19, 2024
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…
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