Recent statements and reports acknowledged that China is closing its technology gap with the United States, especially in air forces. Chinese governments have been using resources to support modernization on the military. However, the pilots' ability between the two countries is still facing a huge gap due to experience and training program.
Air Force
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A number of Air Force drones crashed in major accidents, even involving the Reaper, the Air Force newest and most advanced drone. Pentagon is keeping quiet on the cause behind the drone crashes.
The Air Force announced Thursday that it plans to more than double its drone squadrons and spread them in and out of the United States. According to the Washington Times, this will add 3,000 more personnel, 700 pilots, and 700 sensor operators. Langley Air Force Base U.S. Air Combat Command head Gen. Herbert Carlisle said adding squadrons in Langley and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona could help in the intelligence-gathering tasks.
United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture floated by Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, has bagged a contract worth $882million for launching satellites for the US Air Force with Delta IV and Atlas V rockets. The contract is effective from 1 October and includes launch capability, mission, integration, base and range support, maintenance, depreciation on equipment, mission assurance, program management, systems engineering and launch site and range operations during the 2016 fiscal year, according to US Defense Department. The usage of Atlas V rockets will enable the US Defense Department to compete for military and spy satellite launch contracts. ULA is poised for its latest launch this week and this is its 100th mission this week.
On September 25, the U.S. Air Force's new KC-46A will start to take off and have its first flight. The aircraft is an aerial refueling tanker made by Boeing Co. The flight was announced Tuesday by Brig. Gen. Duke Richards during the Air & Space Conference near Washington, DC. The development for the eventual successor to the KC-135 and KC-10 was originally planned for the spring as reported by Defense Tech.
The U.S. Air Force said on Wednesday it would use Boeing Co's commercial 747-8 airliner to replace its current fleet of two Air Force One presidential aircraft, one of the most visible symbols of the United States.
A compromise defense policy bill in Congress would bar the purchase of more Russian-made rocket engines to launch U.S. military satellites, clearing the way for competitive bids for 14 future launches, senior congressional aides said on Tuesday.
The Pentagon said on Friday it had awarded Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) a contract valued at $4.7 billion for an eighth batch of F-35 fighter jets that lowered the average price per jet by 3.5 percent from the last contract, and 57 percent from the first batch.
For months, a powerful U.S. senator has been pushing for details of a murky deal under which a Russian manufacturer supplies the rocket engines used to launch America’s spy satellites into space.
The Pentagon on Tuesday said it had finalized a contract with Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N), for a seventh batch of F135 engines for the Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) F-35 fighter jet, and the company had agreed to pay to fix an engine issue that grounded the F-35 fleet this summer.
The U.S. drive to end its reliance on Russian rocket motors got a boost this week when Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos unveiled a new engine project, but officials and industry insiders say it will take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a locally built alternative.
After announcing via press conference that its Falcon 9 rocket has successfully made a soft landing in the ocean, Elon Musk expressed his desire for Space X and other private companies to join the bidding for military rocket launch contracts.
