An Airman in a Storm

April 1, 2015
MSgt. Bud Wassom gave his life protecting his daughters from a deadly tornado.

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More USAF ‘Operational Imperatives’ Likely Coming

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Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall distilled the top fighting priorities of the Air Force and Space Force into seven “operational imperatives” chiefly as a mechanism to identify the spending transitions needed in the fiscal 2023 budget. But they are likely to persist, and more—on electronic warfare, cyber, and munitions—may be…

Air Force Looks Beyond AETP for Engines to Power NGAD Fighter

Aug. 11, 2022
The Air Force’s Adaptive Engine Transition Program is demonstrating and maturing key technologies, but it won’t produce the engine that powers the service’s Next Generation Air Dominance fighter, a key acquisition official said. That engine will come from the lesser-known Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program, which is still in its…

After Yearlong Delay, MH-139 Ready for Military Utility Testing

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After months of unexpected delays, the Air Force’s MH-139 Grey Wolf is set to enter military utility testing within the coming month, a service program officer said. The Air Force first announced flight testing of the Grey Wolf, intended to patrol the service’s sprawling intercontinental ballistic missile fields, in February…

Richardson: Digital Design Is Making Old Review Processes Obsolete

Aug. 11, 2022
The era of “three-day critical design reviews” of Air Force programs may be ending with the advent of digital design and development methods, Gen. Duke Z. Richardson, head of Air Force Materiel Command, told attendees at an industry conference. “This is completely transforming how we’re doing systems engineering,” Richardson said…

Air Force PEO Looks to Speed Up Program Start, Testing for Wedgetail

Aug. 11, 2022
With concerns growing that Congress will once again fail to pass a spending bill in time for the start of the new fiscal year, one Air Force program in particular could suffer—the E-7 Wedgetail. While it’s likely that lawmakers would pass a continuing resolution to keep the Pentagon and the…

Air Force Set to Get Rid of Small A-29, AT-6 Fleets, Program Official Says

Aug. 10, 2022
Just over two years ago, the Air Force announced it was buying limited quantities of Textron’s AT-6s and Sierra Nevada Corp.’s A-29s. Now, the service is seemingly set to get rid of the aircraft, most likely in the form of a foreign military sale. Should such a sale occur, it…

B-52 Will Get at Least One New Designation With Radar, Engine Upgrades

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The B-52H will be redesignated the B-52J or possibly B-52K when it gets a new radar and new engines, but the Air Force hasn’t yet decided what will constitute the new B-52 variant, according to Col. Louis Ruscetta, senior materiel leader for the program. The program has also developed a…