Defense News reports that Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said during an event at the Heritage Foundation that the service’s “secretive and highly classified Next Generation Air Dominance fighter program has started its crucial engineering and manufacturing development phase.” Kendall said that the service “began early experimental prototyping on NGAD in 2015, when he was the Pentagon’s top acquisition official. This was essentially an X-plane program, he said, designed to reduce risk and develop key technologies needed for the production program.” Kendall said that the technology has continued to progress and the “NGAD effort is now envisioned as a ‘family of systems’ incorporating several elements, including a handful of autonomous drone aircraft accompanying the manned aircraft in formation.” Kendall said, “The clock really didn’t start in 2015; it’s starting roughly now. … We think we’ll have capability by the end of the decade.”
Full Story (Defense News)
Tag: USAF
B-21 to Make First Flight in 2023
Air Force Times reports that the first flight of the B-21 Raider stealth bomber is expected to take place in 2023. The public unveiling of the bomber is expected later in 2022. The first B-21 “finished its first in a series of ground tests at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, earlier this month.”
More Info (Air Force Times)
Hydroplane Receives USAF Contract for Hydrogen Powerplant
Aviation Week reports that Hydroplane “has received a second U.S. Air Force small business contract to demonstrate a fuel cell-based powerplant. The Los Angeles-based company plans to fly the system in a Piper Cherokee light aircraft in 2023.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
US Air Force Retires First E-8C J-STARS Aircraft
Aviation Week reports that the US Air Force “has retired the first of 16 Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (J-Stars) surveillance aircraft.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Joby Aviation eVTOL Awarded FAA, USAF Certification
Aviation Today reports that “FAA Special Airworthiness Certification and U.S. Air Force Airworthiness Approval were both awarded to Joby Aviation for the company’s second pre-production prototype aircraft.” Due to the certification, Joby “will be able to ramp up flight testing in 2022 and continue working towards a commercial operations launch date in 2024.”
Full Story (Aviation Today)
General Atomics, Kratos Awarded Skyborg Contracts
Inside Defense reports that on Monday, the US Air Force announced that it has awarded “contracts to Kratos and General Atomics to continue development and experimentation on the Skyborg program.” Kratos’ contract is worth up to $13.2 million for its XQ-58A, and General Atomics’ contract is worth as much as $7 million for its MQ-20. In a press release, the USAF said, “These efforts will advance the integration of the Autonomous Core System along with continued operational experimentation through fiscal year 2022.” The USAF continued, “The vehicles will demonstrate future warfighting capabilities through the teaming of manned and unmanned platforms at large-force test events.”
Full Story (Inside Defense
USAF Backing Off 2023 Goal of Transitioning Skyborg Experiments to a Formal Procurement Program
Breaking Defense reports that the US Air Force is “backing off on its 2023 goal to transition the AI-driven Skyborg drone experiments to a formal procurement program, with one of Skyborg’s lead officers today citing the need for considerable budgetary tradeoffs.” Brig. Gen. Dale White, program executive officer (PEO) for fighters and advanced aircraft at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, said, “I don’t know that I would commit to a timeline of when it will be a program of record.” White told reporters that, “I won’t say that it’s not achievable. I will just say that it has to be balanced with all of the other requirements we have across the portfolio to be able to do that.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)
US Air Force Test Marks First-Known Use of AI On Military Aircraft
The Washington Post reports that the US Air Force allowed an AI algorithm “to control sensor and navigation systems on a U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane in a training flight Tuesday, officials said.” The event marks “what is believed to be the first known use of AI onboard a U.S. military aircraft.” Defense officials “touted the test as a watershed moment” in DoD’s attempt “to incorporate AI into military aircraft, a subject that is of intense debate in aviation and arms control communities.” Assistant Air Force Secretary Will Roper said, “This is the first time this has ever happened.”
Full Story (Washington Post)