Boeing 747 To Continue As Air Force One Platform 

Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James, in coordination with the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall, has determined the Boeing 747-8 will serve as the next presidential aircraft, commonly known as Air Force One."The presidential aircraft is one of the most visible symbols of the United States of America and...Read More 

Boeing Announces ANA's Commitment To Become Newest 787-10 Customer

Boeing and All Nippon Airways (ANA) have announced the airline's intent to purchase three 787-10 Dreamliners to add additional flexibility to the airline's 787 fleet. In addition, ANA announced an order for five Next-Generation 737-800s to bolster the airline's growing narrow-body fleet. This agreement, once all commitments are finalized, will be valued at approximately...Read More

Boeing, SpaceX Prepare For First Crew Flights To ISS 

Boeing is set to be the first private company to receive a formal order to flyNASA crewmembers to the International Space Station. Given the vicissitudes of spaceflight development, however, its competitor SpaceX could wind up as first to serve the new market. With Sierra Nevada Corp.'s bid protest in the hotly contested commercial-crew competition rejected, the two winners...Read More

United May Retrofit Some 777s With 10 Seats Across 

United Airlines is considering creating a high-density Boeing 777 subfleet with 10 seats across--rather than nine--in regular economy class and a smaller than usual business class cabin, Aviation Week has learned. The new configuration would allow United to install 364 seats on each aircraft, nearly 100 more than the airline has on many of its three-class 777s, a person familiar with the matter said...Read More

Proliferating Threats Open Door To F-35 Follow On  

In the case of the most expensive aircraft program in history, the Joint Strike Fighter, senior Pentagon officials have begun considering what might happen if the still-developmental F-35 were compromised by the proliferation of ever-more-capable air defenses It is not news that the single-engine F-35, developed by Lockheed Martin, is being introduced into service...Read More

Devil's Brigade Canadian Members Get Congressional Gold Medal 

Forty-two surviving members of a joint American-Canadian special forces military unit called the Devil's Brigade were honoured with the Congressional Gold Medal on Tuesday - the highest civilian honour the United States Congress can bestow.

The brigade was an elite special service force during the Second World War, and is so revered that it served as the model for the U.S. Navy SEALS. It also inspired a film in the late 1960s...Read More

The Long Sordid Path To KC-46 

At first, no one thought the competition for a KC-135 replacement would be a sexy program to cover. Not compared to the work being done to field a ballistic missile defense system, mature unmanned aircraft or design the F-35 -- contemporary programs to the so-called KC-X. Building a refueler is hardly a high-technology affair. But, what the U.S. Air Force's KC-X lacked in technology appeal, it made up for with a good old...Read More

Gone West: Lt. Col. Edward Saylor

ANN has learned that Lieutenant Colonel Edward J. Saylor passed away Wednesday, January 28th at his home in Washington State. Saylor was one of 80 men that comprised Doolittle's Tokyo Raiders during WWII. He was the engineer of Crew 15. Warbirdnews.com relayed a report from WarbirdRadio.com that Saylor requested no funeral or military ceremony. His wish was to be buried beside his wife. Warbird Radio host Matt Jolley...Read More

USAF Selects Lead Programs For 'Digital Twin' Initiative  

Over the years, the U.S. Air Force has come to rely more and more on industry for its technical understanding of the systems it acquires. To reverse that process and bring costs and risks more under its control, the service is experimenting with creating and carrying digital system models through the entire life cycle of a program. The acquisition process now being piloted has two key elements: the "digital thread," a model of the system...Read More

Bombardier Learjet 85: Window of Opportunity Slams Shut

In mid-January, Bombardier announced a "pause" for an "indeterminate period" in the Learjet 85 program, interpreted by some market analysts as permanently shelving the project. In light of Montreal's taking a pre-tax special $1.4 billion write down that represents nearly 90 percent of development costs, as well as announcing a cut of 1,000 jobs at company facilities in Wichita, Kan., and Queretaro...Read More 

American Airlines Welcomes First Dreamliner 

American Airlines has officially welcomed its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner. American took delivery of the airplane, a 787-8 with registration number N800AN, on Thursday at Boeing's factory in Everett, Washington, and it arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth on Friday afternoon."We are committed to delivering a fantastic product for our customers with the continuation of our unprecedented fleet renewal program and more than $2 billion...Read More

USAF Fiscal 2016 Plan Slips Next Joint Stars, Opens Door to GPS Competition 

The U.S. Air Force is restructuring several key efforts - delaying a follow-on to the Joint Stars ground surveillance aircraft program, adding a three-year extension for U-2 operations and a setting up a possible competition for more GPS satellites - as part of its $167.3 billion budget request for fiscal 2016...Read More

American Airlines Pilots Approve Contract 

American Airlines pilots have approved a contract that gives them a 23 percent pay raise this year and subsequent raises of 3 percent for the next five years. About 65.7 percent voted in favor of the deal and 34.3 voted against the new five-year contract, according to the Allied Pilots Association...Read More