Rolls-Royce beat out General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, the latter of whom produced the TF33 engines currently used on the B-52.
By Aaron MehtaHow to ensure readiness of next-generation defense technology: Solving the issue of massive heat.
High-performance systems generate tremendous amounts of heat that can compromise missions and make high-tech systems less effective in tactical environments. But there is a solution to this modern-age challenge.
A contract for one of three companies is “imminent,” per top Air Force officials.
By Aaron Mehta
“The ability to additively manufacture an aircraft engine part and gain military airworthiness is a significant step forward in growing the adoption of additive manufacturing in the Air Force,” Nathan Parker, deputy program executive officer at RSO, said.
By Theresa Hitchens
Boeing’s “selection, and the fact that the production line and all the technical infrastructure that is supporting the F-15EX will be in place for many years, makes the IAF’s decision to procure new F-15s and perform a massive upgrade of the existing fleet easier,” one senior Israeli source said.
By Theresa Hitchens and Arie Egozi
“I’ve been so passionate about bringing in additive manufacturing, and small batch digital manufacturing, to help on aircraft parts availability,” Air Force acquisition head Will Roper says.
By Theresa Hitchens
Dan Schultz, Sikorsky president, calls the CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter an “optimally piloted” aircraft that allows ease of flying even in hellish weather conditions.
By Theresa Hitchens
Having wasted tens of billions and almost 30 years since the end of the Cold War, the Army is out of time. But after decades of incremental improvements, its existing weapons — including the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that GE’s new engine will upgrade – are overweight, underpowered, and running out of room to grow. Meanwhile, the Army’s attempts at a high-tech great leap forward kept getting cancelled as unaffordable, unfeasible, or both.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Modernizing military simulation with open systems architecture
Best-of-breed common models and architecture enable virtual training and testing with the same data in a cyber-resilient posture.
There was some good news, and some bad news, for the Navy on Monday.
By Paul McLeary
In a somewhat surreal scenario, President Trump yesterday riffed on the idea of a “Space Force,” something he’d clearly been briefed on at some point. And the Air Force expects new engines for the B-52 fleet to cost up to $8 billion.
By Colin Clark
Army aviation’s “top modernization priority program” – at least that’s what they call it – took another baby step forward this week. The service awarded preliminary design review contracts to the two competitors vying to build a better engine to power the service’s vast fleet of Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters.…
By Richard Whittle
CORRECTED: 280 knots equals 322 mph, not 245. Spring has sprung and at the Bell Helicopter factory in Amarillo, Texas, it’s mating season, of a sort. If all goes well, by September of next year a bird of a different feather will take flight – the V-280 Valor, a medium-lift tiltrotor transport whose wing and…
By Richard Whittle
WASHINGTON: The B-21 bomber probably uses some common technologies and equipment to that used for the Joint Strike Fighter’s F135 engine. We can’t be certain because no one will confirm it. But Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, head of the F-35 program, did tell the annual McAleese/Credit Suisse conference this: “There are some things we learned from the…
By Colin Clark
PARIS AIR SHOW: Pratt & Whitney has refused to disclose the price of its F135 engines for the F-35 for quite a while, even while Lockheed Martin boasted it would bring down the price of the Joint Strike Fighter to $80 million a copy — including engine. Now we know why. At a Monday briefing…
By Colin ClarkHARTFORD, CT: Aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney proudly predicts it will double its revenues this decade from $12 billion in 2010 to $24 billion in 2020 — but the company admits it will have to get through some lean years first. On both the commercial and military sides, key Pratt & Whitney programs are…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
