The B-52 is getting up there (last one rolled off the line in 1962), but USAF has an ongoing effort to keep the BUFF at the top of its form, including adding upgraded avionics. The Air Force has awarded a $28 million contract modification to Lockheed Martin for the B-52 avionics midlife improvement program. Lockheed is to complete the work at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker AFB, Okla. The Air Force expects to keep the veteran bomber in service until around 2040. (Read about AMI here.)
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…