Aviation International News reported that Bombardier “handed over the first Global 6000 modified for the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) program under an order announced in June 2021. Valued at up to $465 million, that contract was a follow-on to earlier agreements under which the company had delivered four Globals for the BACN program.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
Tag: US Air Force
US Air Force Takes Delivery of First MH-139A Test Helicopter
Aviation International News reported that Leonardo and The Boeing Company “have delivered the first of four MH-139A Grey Wolf test helicopters to the U.S. Air Force as the service looks to replace its aging fleet of UH-1N Hueys.” The MH-139A Grey Wolf’s primary mission “will be to protect intercontinental ballistic missile bases and transport U.S. government officials and security forces.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
Video
First MH-139A Grey Wolf Flight, 25 August 2022.
(NC Military; YouTube)
US Air Force Shifts Focus from ARRW to Scramjets
Aviation Week reports that a “secret test of a hypersonic cruise missile demonstrator and a budget setback for a troubled boost-glide missile prototyping program highlights a growing divergence in the U.S. Air Force’s plans for a future class of missiles that can maneuver at speeds faster than Mach 5.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
US Air Force Pilots Test Fly Alia eVTOL
Aviation Week reports that two US Air Force pilots “have become the first to conduct crewed test flights of an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft under the service’s Agility Prime program.” The two pilots flew “Beta Technologies’ Alia prototype on March 9 from Plattsburgh International Airport, New York.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
US Air Force May Replace E-3G Sentry by 2023
Air Force Times reports that the US Air Force “said this week a contract to buy a replacement for the aging E-3G Sentry…could come in fiscal 2023.” The US Air Force released a RFI Tuesday, asking “how a potential contractor would deliver at least two prototype aircraft to replace the AWACS, including ground support and training systems, within five years of an expected 2023 award.”
Full Story (Air Force Times)
F-15EX Fires Missile for the First Time in Test
Air Force Times reports that the F-15EX Eagle II on Friday successfully fired “an AIM-120D missile at a BQM-167 target drone over the Gulf of Mexico.” The F-15EX, “which was taking part in an air-to-air weapons system evaluation program known as Combat Archer, found the drone with its sensors, tracked it and fired the missile at it.”
Full Story (Air Force Times)
US Air Force Could Be Flying Air Taxis by 2023
Aviation Today reports that AFWERX Director Col. Nathan Diller said that the US Air Force’s Agility Prime program has been investing in electric air taxis and could have them in use by 2023. The vertical takeoff and landing capable air taxis potentially could be used to evacuate downed aircrew.
Full Story (Aviation Today)
US Air Force Surveying Industry for Next Tranche of Refueling Tankers
Reuters reports that the US Air Force “said on Wednesday it is surveying the aircraft industry to learn if another manufacturer has the capacity or interest to make the next tranche of midair refueling tankers similar to the recently purchased KC-46.” The sources sought document “is the first step in the process of buying the next batch of refueling tankers.” The Air Force “said the tranche of 140 to 160 jets would follow The Boeing Company’s current contract to produce 179 KC-46’s as the Pentagon replaces hundreds of Eisenhower-era KC-135’s still in service.” The KC-46 has “been plagued by performance challenges including defects with an on-board video system and the boom that connects the tanker to aircraft seeking refueling.” Despite those challenges, acting Secretary of the Air Force John Roth said Wednesday, “At this point we don’t see the economic or business sense of recompeting the contract.”
Full Story (Reuters)
Boeing to Provide Up to 144 F-15EX Jets to Support Air Force’s F-15 Fleet
ExecutiveGov reports that The Boeing Company “will provide a maximum of 144 F-15EX Eagle II jets to support the Air Force’s efforts to increase the F-15 fleet’s readiness capacity and replace the F-15C/D variants, the service said Wednesday.” The jet was unveiled Wednesday by Lt. Gen. Duke Richardson, military deputy for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. The “first formal training unit for F-15EX will operate under the 173rd Fighter Wing at the Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base in Oregon by 2024.”
Full Story (ExecutiveGov)
US Air Force Officially Accepts First Boeing F-15EX
FlightGlobal reports that on Wednesday, the US Air Force officially accepted the first F-15EX fighter at The Boeing Company’s St. Louis production facility. The Air Force’s “choice to acquire the F-15EX is controversial as the fourth-generation fighter lacks the low radar cross-section of the service’s former favourite jet, the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter.” The Air Force “justified its decision by pointing to the F-15EX’s lower operating costs and the ease with which units flying the F-15C/D can transition into the upgraded variant.” The service “also says it intends to field large, long-range hypersonic missiles on the jet.” The service “plans to acquire 144 examples of the combat aircraft to replace its aging fleet of McDonnell Douglas F-15C/D models, which it says on average are 37 years old and reaching the end of useful life.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal)