John Tirpak

21 hours ago | airandspaceforces.com | John Tirpak

The F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter will have a combat radius of greater than 1,000 miles—nearly double that of the F-22—and the Air Force plans to acquire more than 185 of them, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin revealed May 13 in a post on the social media site X. The first Collaborative Combat Aircraft, so-called Increment 1, will have a combat radius of more than 700 miles, which is greater than that of the F-22 or F-35, he service revealed.

5 days ago | realcleardefense.com | John Tirpak

Air Force Needs to Work Now on How to Sustain CCAs in the Field As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field should be a key consideration Read Full Article »

6 days ago | airandspaceforces.com | John Tirpak

As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA’s Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies. Based on a series of wargames, the study also concluded that using common weapons across different autonomous aircraft types will ease the logistics burden in wartime.

1 week ago | airandspaceforces.com | John Tirpak

Rising costs on the B-52 Radar Modernization Program—one of the key upgrades that will take transform the B-52H into the B-52J configuration—have triggered a law requiring the Air Force to notify Congress, and the service is now considering reducing the scope of the program. The Nunn-McCurdy Act requires the services to tell Congress when a program’s cost or schedule estimate has increased substantially from its approved baseline.

1 week ago | airandspaceforces.com | John Tirpak

Despite a proposed $150 billion reconciliation package that could lead to $1 trillion in defense spending in 2026, what industry needs more is stability in the budget to build a surge capacity, the head of the top aerospace trade group said May 7. The $150 billion through reconciliation is “a sugar high,” Aerospace Industries Association CEO Eric Fanning told a Mitre Corporation conference on defense acquisition.