The Air Force has designated the Air Force Research Lab’s Active Aeroelastic Wing flight demonstrator the X-53. An AFRL release notes that this is the first X-plane initiated within the Air Vehicles Directorate since the X-24 lifting body concept. The AAW flight demonstrator, a joint project of AFRL, NASA, and Boeing, is an F/A-18 highly modified to exploit aeroelastic effects normally considered anathema to aircraft performance. AFRL officials say the X-plane designation lends the program more import.
The Air Force awarded matching $17.7 million contracts to Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for the first part of a program to design an "Off Board Sensing Station," which would be an escort to extend the sensor reach of combat aircraft and carry extra munitions for…