The U.S. Army is planning to deliver 24 of its 35 top modernization priorities by fiscal 2023, and if budget restrictions necessitate it the service will look first at cutting legacy systems and then so-called enduring programs to protect the new ones.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s top funding priority, missile defense for Guam, is likely to slip beyond the required original targeted fielded date of 2026, with the command waiting for the Pentagon’s 2023 budget to outline the way forward.
The U.S. Air Force has cleared the KC-46 to refuel five more aircraft types as part of a rollout of interim capabilities before the tanker is fully operational.
NASA on Dec. 6 presented its 2021 class of new astronaut candidates, six men and four women chosen not only for their diverse professional skills but also their commitment to teamwork.
The U.S. Air Force’s MQ-9 is the only aircraft with the right capabilities for over-the-horizon surveillance and airstrikes in Afghanistan, though the service is phasing out the drone and giving U.S. Central Command fewer aircraft to fly the missions. But CENTCOM’s head of operations said he still agrees with the USAF plan.
The F-35 Joint Program Office is hoping to pick up the pace of deploying its new logistics system in 2022 and take other steps to improve the deployability of the aircraft such as reducing the size of spare packages the jets need.
Safran on Dec. 6 said it has entered into exclusive discussions to acquire Orolia from majority shareholder Eurazeo alongside the company’s founders and management to expand its product line and local country footprints.
The Pentagon’s need for test and evaluation of new weapons systems will soon overtake the department’s capacity, at a time when senior defense officials say fast acquisition of new technologies is critical.
NASA said it intends to issue a sole-source modification to SpaceX’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capabilities contract that would enable the agency to purchase up to three more crew flights to the International Space Station.
The U.S. Air Force plans to launch two new unmanned combat air vehicles in the fiscal 2023 budget request, the service confirmed on Dec. 6. The aircraft would be designed to operate as unmanned partners to manned fighters, such as the Lockheed Martin F-35, F-22 and the future Next Generation Air Dominance system, Air Force officials say.
Intuitive Machines (IM) has begun construction of a $40 million, 115,000-sq.-ft. lunar production and operations center at the Houston Spaceport to support plans to establish an annual cadence of commercial missions to the lunar surface.
The space telescope set to launch in 2023 has been built to address two of the most important questions in cosmology today: How did the universe originate and why is it expanding at an accelerating rate?
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Ronald Reagan National Defense Forum that the Pentagon is actively working to make it easier to land contracts and produce new, needed technologies at a time the Defense Department is desperate for innovation.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Dec. 4 that the department “is committed to ensuring Ukraine has what it needs to protect its sovereign territory.”
