Boeing has won a $5.2 million contract from the Air Force Research Lab to mature compact, lightweight fuse technology envisioned for the future joint dual-role air dominance missile. According to a May 16 release, the company said it will begin 33 months of work in July to demonstrate the effectiveness of guidance integrated fuzing technology that it has developed previously under Air Force sponsorship of a program dubbed JDRADM. Boeing is also working on warhead-related technology for the future dual-role missile, the notional successor to the advanced medium-range air-to-air missile that will combine air-to-air and air-to-ground capability in a single weapon.
The Air Force’s nascent KC-Z program, aimed at developing a next-generation family of systems for aerial refueling, will look to launch its analysis-of-alternatives study in 2024, years earlier than originally planned. Originally, the analysis of alternatives for KC-Z was set for “maybe in the 2030s,” Paul Waugh, program executive officer…