Lockheed Martin reports that is has delivered the flight structure for the third Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite in just 10 months since contract start. Julie Sattler, Lockheed space systems VP calls it “a significant achievement.” Technicians at the company’s space and technology facility in Mississippi now will mate the flight structure with its propulsion subsystem. Lockheed expects to begin final assembly on the first AEHF sat early next year, working toward launch in April 2008. And the second AEHF would launch a year later.
With upgrades, F-16s can serve as a numbers-builder in the combat air forces until the 2040s, and it’s not necessary to launch its successor yet, program officials said at an industry conference. “We anticipate hundreds of F-16s in active service for decades to come,” meaning into the 2040s, Col. Tim…