The Air Force Research Lab has given $12.5 million to General Electric to provide a near-term solution making aircraft immune to electromagnetic environmental effects. GE must demonstrate that aircraft flight control, electric actuation, and power management and distribution subsystems are resilient against high power microwaves and electromagnetic pulses—by November 2011.
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.