The years-old idea of an “arsenal plane,” a flying munitions truck that could accompany fighter jets and unmanned aircraft into battle, is now adapting to include the Air Force’s new technology pursuits. As the Air Force evolves its thinking on the prospect of an arsenal plane, top service officials are acknowledging the need to consider hypersonic weapons and new ideas in battle management. Air Force Global Strike Command boss Gen. Timothy Ray told Air Force Magazine in a Nov. 13 interview that arsenal plane experiments will take place over the next few years, and will begin to tap into the broader, networked Advanced Battle Management System idea the service is pursuing. Will Roper, the service’s acquisition chief, indicated that what constitutes an arsenal plane may come down to how aircraft like the bomber fleet are used, not only whether they offer a new design. Read the full story by Rachel S. Cohen.

New suppliers have been found for all but a dozen of the 850 parts Turkey is now making for the F-35, and most of the work is going to Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney, company and program officials told a House Armed Services panel on Nov. 13—the same day Turkish President Recip Erdogan visited the White House. Much of the work is being brought back in-house, Lockheed F-35 Vice President and General Manager Greg Ulmer reported, but about 20 percent is going to foreign partner companies who already make identical components. Erdogan, at a White House press appearance, said he might be open to buying the American Patriot air defense system, but didn’t say whether it would be in lieu of the Russian S-400, the purchase of which prompted Turkey’s expulsion from the F-35 program. Read the full story by John A. Tirpak.

 

 

The F-35 is making progress but still faces major hurdles with its logistics system, intellectual property, supply chain, and more, officials overseeing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program told lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Nov. 13. Program leadership laid out a path to turn one of the key challenges, the underperforming Autonomic Logistics Information System, into a functional tool for operations and maintenance data as it’s meant to be. Officials also discussed efforts to drive down the cost of flying the F-35 from $44,000 per hour to $25,000 per hour by 2025, though some in the department think that goal may be too lofty. Read the full story by Rachel S. Cohen.

The Air Force’s only undergraduate remotely piloted aircraft training center was redubbed “Crawford Hall” in honor of WWII pilot Ollie Crawford, an Air Force Association charter member who went on to lead the organization as national president and chairman, in a Nov. 13 ceremony at JBSA-Randolph, Texas. Crawford, who died earlier this year at the age of 94, was known for his advocacy for airmen, his role in forming the Air Force Memorial Foundation and getting the monument constructed, and much more. “Ollie Crawford represents the passion for his service and for his service to his nation,” retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Douglas Raaberg, AFA’s executive vice president and one of the ceremony’s keynote speakers, told Air Force Magazine. “If every airman could have just a thimbleful of that passion that he had and strongly believed in, it’d be even more powerful for our Air Force, and for our joint forces, and our nation today.” Read the full story by Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory.