Airforce

Electric aircraft firm Joby Aviation is teaming up with L3Harris to develop an autonomous hybrid vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that could be used for defense applications.
The companies plan to start flight tests this fall and be ready to demonstrate operational capabilities in government exercises by 2026.
“The collaboration leverages Joby’s existing commercial aircraft development program and leading manufacturing capabilities, combined with L3Harris’ proven expertise on platform missionization including sensors, effectors, communication and collaborative autonomy,” the firms said in a statement Friday.
The aircraft, which is based on Joby’s S4 platform, is designed for either piloted or fully autonomous operations. It’s powered by a gas turbine propulsion system, and the firms said it could have a range of defense applications, including ISR and contested logistics missions. As a vertical takeoff and landing, or VTOL, aircraft, the syste..

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said Tuesday he’s not worried about the impact of an impending strike that would include 3,200 union workers that produce fighter aircraft and munitions at factories in Missouri and Illinois.
The threat of a strike follows the employees’ rejection Sunday of Boeing’s most recent contract proposal. The International Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union said in statement a strike could begin Aug. 4 if the parties don’t reach a deal before the end of a weeklong cooling off period.
Ortberg noted during the company’s second quarter earnings call that the scope of the potential strike — which includes mechanics in plants in St. Louis and St. Charles, Missouri — would be much smaller than that of the 30,000-worker strike last fall.
During that strike, the company took a $661 million charge on its KC-46 tanker development contract with the U.S. Air Force, in part due to work stoppages on the Air Force’s KC-46 tanker.
“We’ll..

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Germany’s government intends to set up an airlift operation to provide humanitarian aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced on Monday.
Details of the operation, which will be carried out in cooperation with Jordan and with the backing of France and the United Kingdom, are still scarce. But previous German aid-dropping operations in the territory may give a glimpse of what to expect, according to a defense spokesman in Berlin.
Officials announced the new initiative following a Cabinet-level meeting, which Merz attended. He said the airlift, which was due to start “without delay,” would be jointly carried out by Germany and Jordan.
The Jordanian government said in an email to Defense News that the German announcement “came in response to a request by Jordan as the dire situation in Gaza worsens.”
The Kingdom bordering Israel to the east will provide “air support to the German..

The Air Force created a new office dedicated to communications and cyber systems, marking what was hailed in a service release “as one of the most significant reorganizations of the Air Staff in over 30 years.”
The new AF/A6 Deputy Chief of Staff Office breaks up responsibilities previously held under the Air Force headquarters A2 office to add a new and combined focus on cyber and communications.
The change is intended to align with other Pentagon initiatives to streamline command and control capabilities and inform future investments and force design decisions.
“We created the A6 to ensure communications and cyber systems are available, secure and aligned with warfighter priorities. This office will help us focus resources and oversight where it matters most — supporting the mission in contested environments,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said in the release.
Maj. Gen. Michele Edmondson has been appointed to lead the new office as deputy Chief of st..

PARIS — Germany and France will “clarify the situation” regarding their Future Combat Air System project by the end of the year, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said after a July 24 meeting with his French counterpart, in response to bickering between partner companies about work share.
“Some of the involved companies not only have enormous amounts of expertise, they also have – naturally – their own interests and their own will,” Pistorius said in a joint press conference with French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu in Osnabrück, western Germany. “We knew that from the beginning.”
“What’s important for the two of us is that the projects represent German-French cooperation and partnership, they don’t represent national egotism.”
French plane maker Dassault Aviation, the lead on developing a new fighter jet at the heart of the system, has been vocal about wanting a larger role. Its CEO Eric..

Matthew Lohmeier, the former Space Force lieutenant colonel who was relieved of command after publicly blasting the military’s diversity programs and alleged Marxist ideology, was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday as the Air Force’s next undersecretary.
The 52-46 vote to approve Lohmeier was along party lines.
Lohmeier was fired from command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado in 2021 after appearing on a podcast to discuss his self-published book, “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest and the Unmaking of the American Military.”
During that podcast, Lohmeier decried diversity initiatives, critical race theory and Marxism, saying they were anti-American and divisive. He alleged those ideas were spreading through and weakening the military.
President Donald Trump tapped Lohmeier to be the second-highest civilian in the Department of the Air Force shortly before his inauguration in January, tasking him with changing ..

Air Force Global Strike Command has pulled Sig Sauer M18 pistols from use following the July 20 death of an airman at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.
The airman was active-duty and assigned to the 90th Security Forces Squadron at the time of the fatal incident, the 90th Missile Wing confirmed this week. Further details, including the airman’s name and cause of death, are currently being withheld.
The service’s decision to withdraw the M18 pistol from use in the immediate aftermath of the airman’s death is pending an investigation by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, as well as a safety inspection of the handgun.
A leaked memo dated July 21 called for the M18 to be pulled from use “for all operational and training activities” immediately and replaced by the M-4 rifle until further notice. It also calls for “100% inspections of all Wing-assigned M18 weapons systems” by Combat Arms personnel.
The memo was confirmed as authentic by Charles Hoffman, an A..

PARIS — Turkey and the United Kingdom signed a memorandum of understanding on the export of Eurofighter Typhoon jets on Wednesday, bringing the government in Ankara a step closer to buying the multi-role fighter aircraft built by a consortium of four European countries.
Negotiations on the potential deal with Turkey will continue in coming weeks, the U.K. government said in a statement. While Turkey has been seeking to buy Eurofighter jets since 2023, talks had reportedly stumbled on German reluctance to grant an export license.
The bulk of the Turkish Air Force’s fighter fleet consists of aging F-16 jets, with the country suspended from the F-35 program after buying S-400 air-defense systems from Russia. While Turkey is developing its own fifth-generation KAAN stealth fighter, that jet is still in the prototype phase.
“Today’s agreement is a big step towards Turkey buying U.K. Typhoon fighter jets,” U.K. Defence Secretary John Healey said in a statement. ..

The crew of a B-52H Stratofortress that had a near-miss with a civilian airliner near Minot International Airport last Friday told air traffic control they were nearby, but were not informed a passenger jet was in the area, the Air Force said.
The passenger jet, flight 3788 from SkyWest Airlines, was on approach to land at the Minot airport the evening of July 18 when it had to veer sharply to avoid the B-52. Both planes ultimately landed safely. A passenger took video of the pilot’s explanation of what happened afterwards, which was widely shared online.
“Nobody told us about” the B-52 in the area, the pilot told passengers. “There’s no radar here. The tower does everything visually. … This is not normal at all, I don’t know why they didn’t give us a heads up, because the Air Force base does have radar, and nobody said, ‘Hey, there’s also a B-52 in the pattern.’”
A commercial airline pilot flying over North Dakot..

The U.S. Air Force recently conducted an exercise in which AI was used to recommend targets in a high-pressure combat scenario.
Called “Experiment 3,” the four-day exercise took place last month and was described in a service release as the debut of “a novel planning and execution methodology, one never before executed” by the Air Force.
The 805th Combat Training Squadron, also known as the Shadow Operations Center — Nellis battle lab, saw participants use AI software to accelerate their decision-making and targeting processes over four days in a simulated battle space.
“We’re not just testing software, we’re challenging assumptions, validating tactics and shaping the operational architecture the Air Force and our allies will rely on in future conflicts,” Lt. Col. Shawn Finney, commander of the 805th, said in a release. “This was a proving ground for the kill chain of tomorrow.”
The unprecedented exercise was designed to speed up ..