“We’ve been kicking around this idea that there needs to be a milestone past D; a milestone E where the program is proving elderly and we’re having to do Herculean tasks to keep airplanes flying that should have been retired long ago,” says Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper.

F-35 Program Executive Officer Vice Adm. Mat Winter today told the HASC tactical air and land subcommittee that Lockheed was guilty of just that, adding that this had helped lead to a shortage of an average of 600 parts each month, causing production line slowdowns and cost increases.

Fifth gen or fourth gen? F-35A or F-15X. Stealth, sensors and fusion or lots of missiles? Lockheed or Boeing? See what the Mitchell Institute says.

WASHINGTON: While the Air Force accepted delivery of the first KC-46 today, Boeing could face a total of $4.5 billion in cost overruns and withheld payments on the initial $4.9 billion contract for 52 KC-46 airborne tankers, depending on what happens as the company tries to fix the plane’s Remote Vision System. How does that… Keep reading →

The budget battles have begun, with Republicans and Democrats already sparring over Rep. Mac Thornberry’s call to slash DoD civilians by 20 percent.

In a hearing this morning, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jack Reed, said he’s skeptical about the current plan to retire the JSTARS radar surveillance plane because the Air Force has been inconsistent, not just about JSTARS, but a host of other programs.

WASHINGTON: The Air Force and Army couldn’t start an important set of tabletop wargames last week because of the government shutdown. Air Force Gen. Mike Holmes revealed the information when he disclosed today that the Air Force was starting multi-domain war games to hammer out how the land and air services would work together in… Keep reading →

As the Pentagon finishes its strategic review, the stage is set for another struggle over whether to ready for a high-end war with Russia or China or just manage the current, much lower intensity battles around the world. In military terms it’s a choice between capability and capacity. The outcome will shape the four services… Keep reading →

Campaign promises of a larger, more ready and fully modernized military have slammed into budget realities as the Trump administration’s fiscal 2018 budget for the Pentagon shows only modest growth above what the Obama administration had projected. Funding at those levels will support a 305-ship Navy, not the 350 ships that candidate Trump proposed back in… Keep reading →

CORRECTS: Name and title of operations group commander CREECH AIR FORCE BASE: Over two days of briefings here by everyone from pilots to maintainers to the operations group commander of the 432nd Wing, one message rang out loud and clear: the Reaper has grown into a key Close Air Support (CAS) tool for the US military and… Keep reading →