Naftaly Mwaniki

BAE Systems and L3Harris are halfway through delivery of the Air Force’s planned fleet of 10 EA-37B Compass Call planes and expect to deliver the final five in 2027 and 2028.
The firms — co-prime contractors to create the next generation of electronic warfare aircraft — expect the market for Compass Calls to continue growing in years to come. In a Monday call with reporters, BAE and L3 officials said they see growing potential to sell Compass Calls to international customers and that the Air Force could increase its purchase of the planes.
The EA-37B is a heavily adapted Gulfstream G550 business jet loaded with electronic warfare equipment. It is designed to jam enemy communications, radar and navigation signals and allow airmen to defuse roadside bombs wirelessly. It will also block the ability of enemy air defenses to transmit information between sensors, control networks and weapons, allowing U.S. and partner aircraft to get closer to their targets.
It is replacing the V..

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Navy’s upcoming sixth-generation fighter may be its last manned fighter, the director of the service’s air warfare division said Tuesday.
F/A-XX will include new capabilities and technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly said at the Navy League’s Sea Air Space conference. The upgrades will provide more battlespace awareness and improve how naval aviators make decisions.
Those technological advancements could help bring the Navy into a new era where piloted and unmanned aircraft operate more closely together, such as with the Navy’s planned AI-operated drone wingmen, known as collaborative combat aircraft, or larger, unmanned platforms that might come in the future.
“It could be our last tactical manned fighter that we operate out of the Navy,” Donnelly said. “It will actually be at a point where we are more man-on-the-loop than man-in-the-loop, and be the bridge to ..

ROME — Italy’s Leonardo is talking up the European pedigree of its M-346 jet trainer after British newspapers claimed it was based on a Russian design.
British tabloids made the allegations after reports that the M-346 was being considered as a replacement for aging BAE Hawk T1 jets flown by the U.K.’s Red Arrows display team.
Leonardo worked jointly on the design of a jet trainer with Russian firm Yakovlev from 1993 to 2000 before the team-up was dissolved and each firm went on to produce their own trainers.
That did not stop the UK Sun newspaper reporting the M-346 was “Russian designed” in an article titled “Air Farce” on Monday. The daily quoted James Cartlidge, the defense spokesman for the UK’s Conservative opposition party saying, “When the Red Arrows perform their brilliant air displays, their red, white and blue vapor trails represent the Union Jack — not the Russian tricolor.”
As other tabloids picked up the story, British prime minister Keir Sta..

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Over the next five years Marine aviators should see more F-35s, an upgraded MV-22 Osprey fleet, a larger fleet of cargo aircraft and data-enabled predictive aircraft maintenance.
That’s the vision Deputy Commandant for Aviation Lt. Gen. Bradford Gering shared Tuesday at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition.
“So, what does modernization look like in the Marine Corps? It’s an all-fifth-gen tactical air force of F-35s augmented by collaborative combat aircraft,” Gering said. “It’s a full fleet of CH-53K helicopters for the heavy lift mission.”
Gering added that the MV-22 program will have finished its platform midlife upgrades over the remainder of the next five-year budget cycle.
AI, advanced tech central to new Marine Corps aviation plan
Also involved in the Corps’ aviation wing will be its drone fleet of MQ-9 Reapers, which are flying today. Those will eventually see major payload and sensor..

PARIS — Dassault Aviation CEO Éric Trappier slammed the cooperation with Airbus on developing a European sixth-generation fighter jet, telling French lawmakers that working together is “very, very difficult” amid continued bickering over work share.
“Something is not working,” Trappier said in a hearing of the National Assembly defense committee here on Wednesday. “So it needs to be reviewed. It’s not up to me to do that, it’s up to the states to get together to figure out how to better manage this ambitious program.”
France, Germany and Spain in December 2022 awarded Dassault Aviation, Airbus, Indra Sistemas and Eumet a €3.2 billion ($3.6 billion) contract for phase 1B of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), covering research, technology and overall design. That’s after Dassault and Airbus reached agreement on the next-generation fighter earlier that month, after more than a year of squabbling.
Dassault is the prime con..

The commander of a Space Force base in Greenland was fired Thursday, hours after the revelation that she had sent an email distancing the base from Vice President JD Vance’s comments during a recent visit.
Pituffik Space Base commander Col. Susan Meyers was removed from command “for loss of confidence in her ability to lead,” the Space Force said in a statement Thursday evening.
“Commanders are expected to adhere to the highest standards of conduct, especially as it relates to remaining nonpartisan in the performance of their duties,” the Space Force said.
Military.com reported Thursday that Meyers sent an email to Pituffik personnel on March 31, days after Vance’s visit to the base, that seemed intended to foster solidarity between U.S. service members and personnel stationed there from other countries, including Denmark and Greenland.
“I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the U.S. administration discussed..

MILAN — Norway became the first F-35 partner nation to fulfill its program of record with the delivery of the last two F-35A airframes this month, marking the completion of the Scandinavian country’s order of 52 aircraft, manufacturer Lockheed Martin said.
The announcement followed the establishment last month of a new F-35 maintenance centre in Rygge, Norway. The sustainment work and future upgrades will be carried out at the new 5,000 square-meter facility by Kongsberg Aviation Maintenance Services and the Norwegian Defense Materiel Agency.
Before this, intermediate-level upkeep for the Norwegian fighter jets was done at the Italian F-35 maintenance hub in Cameri.
The creation of a national facility will allow Norway to gain an independent capacity to perform this work locally, strengthen supply chains, and increase operational availability, a Kongsberg statement said.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January, concerns have grown in Europe about the extent..

Air Force Special Operations Command’s top enlisted airman was removed from his post Monday amid an investigation.
Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Green, AFSOC’S command chief, was relieved by AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. Mike Conley, the command said in a statement.
Conley told personnel in an email Tuesday that he relieved Green of his duties “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to fulfill his duties.” The email was posted to the unofficial “Air Force amn/nco/snco” Facebook page. AFSOC later confirmed the veracity of the email.
“I want to assure you that this decision was made only after careful consideration of the circumstances,” Conley said. “As airmen, we are entrusted with incredible responsibility and held to the highest standards of conduct. Upholding these standards is non-negotiable, and maintaining good order and discipline is fundamental to who we are.”
AFSOC spokesperson Lt. Col. Becky Heyse confirmed an investigation into Green is ongoing, but ..

Lockheed Martin plans to fold technologies it developed in its unsuccessful bid for the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance platform into the F-35 and F-22 Raptor to create a “supercharged” fifth-generation fighter, company executives said.
Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet told investors in a Tuesday earnings call the company is not going to challenge the Air Force’s March 21 decision to award the F-47 contract to Boeing. Instead, he said, the company will focus on upgrading the F-35 and F-22 Raptor fighters with sixth-generation technology.
“There are techniques and capabilities … that were developed for [our NGAD bid] that we can now apply here,” Taiclet said. “We’re basically going to take the [F-35′s] chassis and turn it into a Ferrari.”
Taiclet said souping up fifth-generation fighters like this would allow Lockheed to deliver “80% of the capability, potentially, at 50% of the cost per unit aircraft.”
“Eventually, th..

Northrop Grumman reported a $477 million loss on the B-21 Raider in the first quarter of 2025, as higher manufacturing and materials costs for making the sixth-generation stealth bomber squeeze the company.
In a Tuesday statement on its financial performance, Northrop said much of the $477 million loss stemmed from a change the firm made to its B-21 production process, intended to allow the company to build the bombers at a higher rate.
Northrop CEO Kathy Warden also said in an earnings call Tuesday with investors that macroeconomic factors are driving up the projected price of bomber materials. The loss encompassed all five low-rate initial production lots for the bomber.
“While I’m disappointed with this financial impact, we continue to make solid progress on the [B-21] program, demonstrating performance objectives through tests, and we are progressing through the first two lots of production,” Warden said. “With significant learning behind us, we are ready to..