October 23, 2024 | International, Aerospace
Boeing machinists are voting on a proposed contract that could end the nearly six-week strike.
July 5, 2021 | International, Aerospace
With Skyborg, the U.S. Air Force hopes to build an autonomy system that can pilot drones and work with human fighter pilots.
November 7, 2019 | International, Aerospace
WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 7, 2019 – Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) today announced the appointment of Andrew (Andy) Adams to oversee all strategic and operational aspects of its efforts to support Future Vertical Lift (FVL), which will shape the United States military's helicopter fleet of the future. This appointment emphasizes that Lockheed Martin is bringing the full strength of its portfolio to FVL and demonstrates that the corporation is prepared to support accelerated fielding of these capabilities. Led by the U.S. Army, FVL will create the next generation of rotary wing aircraft that are faster, more maneuverable, more lethal, and more technologically advanced. Andy joins the Rotary and Mission Systems business from Aeronautics, where he was vice president and deputy general manager, F-35 Lightning II program. He has a diverse background in the aerospace industry with 31 years of experience within Lockheed Martin, including 29 with Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (Skunk Works®). Andy brings unique skills to the role based on his deep involvement in the pursuit, capture and execution of highly complex, highly contested capture campaigns. His appointment is effective Nov. 18, 2019. “Lockheed Martin is demonstrating its leap-ahead technologies today that will enable us to provide these critical capabilities to the U.S. Army in record time. For more than a decade, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, has been investing in game-changing X2 technology to support our customers' FVL missions with increased speed, agility and maneuverability,” said Frank St. John, Executive Vice President, Rotary and Mission Systems. “Coupled with our adaptable mission systems, sensors, weapons, advanced manufacturing, and training and sustainment solutions, Andy will ensure we bring the best of Lockheed Martin to Future Vertical Lift. He will lead the way as we advance industry and supplier partnerships with a stronger, centralized effort to meet our customers' critical missions.” Lockheed Martin's FVL campaign will integrate capture initiatives for the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA), for which Lockheed Martin is proposing its RAIDER X aircraft, and Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), the Marine Corps' Attack Utility Replacement Aircraft (AURA), as well as S-97 RAIDER, SB>1 DEFIANT and international efforts. The FVL campaign will bring employees and resources together into a unified organizational structure, increasing efficiencies and preparing Lockheed Martin for rapid development and delivery of game-changing technologies and capabilities. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. https://news.lockheedmartin.com/Lockheed-Martin-Appoints-Leader-of-Future-Vertical-Lift-Campaign
July 3, 2018 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
By: Joe Gould WASHINGTON ― America's aging C-135 reconnaissance planes keep breaking down, and alarmed lawmakers want the U.S. Air Force to tell them why. Based at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, the 55th Wing's Boeing-made reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering aircraft, all more than 50 years old, are meant to carry out critical missions from operating bases in England, Greece, Japan and Qatar. But an Omaha World-Herald investigative series has found that mechanical problems plague the jets, cutting short 500 of their flights since 2016 and one of every 12 missions since 2015. That's prompted Nebraska lawmakers to write to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, urging her to probe and report on the health of the 55th Wing's worn-out fleet. Meanwhile, the Nebraska delegation is trying to fend off an effort within Congress to strip funding to recapitalize the OC-135, which conducts overflights of Russia under the 34-nation Open Skies Treaty. Some lawmakers and Pentagon officials have grown skeptical of the treaty, which allows reciprocal surveillance flights, amid alleged Russian violations, but the administration has requested funds for two new airliners to take over the mission. “It has one of the worst maintenance rates in the United States Air Force,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said of the OC-135 on the House floor last week. “It frequently breaks down in Russia, putting us in very hostile, awkward situations with Russians at their bases.” The chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee's Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Deb Fischer, led the letter with Sen. Ben Sasse, a SASC member; Bacon (a retired brigadier general and former 55th Wing commander who sits on the House Armed Services Committee), as well as Reps. Jeff Fortenberry and Adrian Smith. The letter asked Wilson to report on the 55th Wing's safety, security and continued mission effectiveness as well as the Air Force's long-term plans to sustain and recapitalize the wing's capabilities. It referenced the RC-135V/W Rivet Joint, RC-135S Cobra Ball, RC-135U Combat Sent, WC-135 Constant Phoenix, TC-135 Rivet Joint Trainer and the OC-135 Open Skies aircraft. In the current budget season, House and Senate lawmakers have taken divergent approaches to the Trump administration's $222 million request for the two new aircraft. House appropriators and authorizers stripped the funding from their 2019 bills. The authorization bill withholds the funding until Russia adheres to the treaty and agrees to extradite Russians indicted for meddling in U.S. elections in 2016. Fischer helped ensure the Senate-passed 2019 authorization bill did include funding for OC-135 recapitalization, and the bill will have to be reconciled with its House counterpart. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis directed the Air Force to recapitalize the aircraft. He wrote to Fischer in May to acknowledge that unplanned maintenance issues meant the U.S. completed only 64 percent of its scheduled overflights in 2017, while Russia typically completes all of its scheduled overflights. The White House Office of Management and Budget has also issued letters objecting to the absence of OC-135 recapitalization funding in the House bills. https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2018/07/02/us-spy-planes-are-breaking-down-and-lawmakers-want-answers/