DefenseNews

Lockheed picks engine to bolster interim tanker case for US Air Force

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin on Tuesday announced it has selected a General Electric Aerospace engine for the aerial refueling tanker it’s seeking to sell to a wavering Air Force. Lockheed picked GE’s CF6-80E1 engine for its planned LMXT strategic tanker, which would be a variation of Airbus’s A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport. Over the next decade, the Air Force plans to buy about 75…
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DefenseNews

Q&A: Maxar execs discuss US Army simulation, Project Maven

ST. LOUIS — As Russia massed materiel on its border with Ukraine ahead of its invasion in February 2022, commercial satellites orbited overhead. The images and other readings gathered from afar were critical to grasping the situation in Eastern Europe at the time, and…
DefenseNews

Air Force official’s musings on rogue drone targeting humans go viral

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force walked back comments reportedly made by a colonel regarding a simulation in which a drone outwitted its artificial intelligence training and killed its handler, after the claims went viral on social media. Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said in a June 2 statement no such testing took place, adding that the service member’s comments were likely “taken out…
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Auditors: Future F-35 cooling needs unknown as DoD eyes engine upgrade

WASHINGTON — The F-35 program only knows how much cooling the Joint Strike Fighter’s engine will need through 2035, government auditors said in a new report. But that’s a few years after the F-35 program needs to finish upgrading its thermal management system to be able to support rapidly arriving new capabilities, the Government Accountability Office said in a Tuesday report. And GAO said…
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DefenseNews

Air Force general set to lead Missile Defense Agency

WASHINGTON — Air Force Maj. Gen. Heath Collins will pin on a third star and become the Missile Defense Agency’s next director, according to the Pentagon’s general officer announcement on May 31. Collins will replace Vice Adm. Jon Hill, who has served as director since…
DefenseNews

US Army may ask defense industry to disclose AI algorithms

PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Army officials are considering asking companies to give them an inside look at the artificial intelligence algorithms they use to better understand their provenance and potential cybersecurity weak spots. The nascent AI “bill of materials” effort…
DefenseNews

Spanish Navy to receive first Naval Strike Missiles in 2027

MILAN — Spanish officials have confirmed that missile maker Kongsberg will begin deliveries of its fifth-generation Naval Strike Missiles, set to equip the Spanish Navy’s F-100 and F-110 frigates, in 2027, three years prior to the planned retirement of the fleet’s Harpoon anti-ship missiles. “The estimated date of receipt of the first NSM will coincide with the entry into service of the…
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