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In Phase 1 of the XS-1 program, DARPA awarded prime contracts to three companies, each of which will work with a commercial launch provider: Boeing (working with Blue Origin), Masten Space Systems (working with XCOR Aerospace) and Northrop Grumman (working with Virgin Galactic). However, the Phase 2 contractor won't necessarily be chosen from the three Phase 1 participants, according to the Air Force Magazine report. The XS-1 space plane will consist of a reusable booster vehicle and an expendable upper stage. According to the DARPA website, the XS-1 program has four primary technical goals: + Fly 10 times in a...

A gooey substance normally wouldn’t seem like it could stop a bullet, but an Air Force Academy cadet has created just that. Air Force Academy Cadet 1st Class Hayley Weir created a goo-like substance that can stop bullets. Cadet 1st Class Hayley Weir’s interest in bullet-stopping materials was piqued when she took a chemistry class at the academy in 2014. The class was given three materials to combine in a way that could stop a bullet. “Up to that point, it was the coolest thing I’d done as a cadet,” Weir, a senior at the academy, told Air Force Times....

  The X-37B spaceplane on the runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center after landing May 7. Some argue it’s time for the Air Force to start planning to use its capabilities to preempt hostile actions in space. (credit: US Air Force) It’s time for the US Air Force to prepare for preemption in space by Edward G. Ferguson and John J. KleinMonday, May 8, 2017 The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Air Force, Falcon Research or those of the United States government. A version...

The Senate has confirmed Heather Wilson as secretary of the Air Force. Senators approved Wilson’s nomination 76-22, making her President Donald Trump’s first service secretary nominee to be approved by the GOP-led chamber. ... Wilson is a former Republican congresswoman from New Mexico. She had faced scrutiny from several Democrats for defense industry consulting work she did after leaving Congress in 2009. She is the first graduate of the Air Force Academy to hold the service’s top civilian post.

The US military's X-37B space plane landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, ending its record-breaking 718-day orbit with a sonic boom during its first landing in Florida. The US Air Force has two X-37B Orbital Test Vehicles, which it calls its newest and most advanced reentry spacecraft. At 29 feet long and with a 14-foot wingspan, the planes are about one-quarter of the size of NASA's now retired space shuttles and have a cargo bay about the size of a pick-up truck's. The first X-37 program started in 1999, and the X-37B first flew in April 2010,...

Original newz story - Click here The US Air Force deployed an RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude surveillance drone at Yokota Air Base on Monday night, starting a five-month operation in Tokyo, Japan Times reports. The drone, the first of five to arrive in Japan, is tasked to survey ballistic missiles and nuclear facilities in North Korea, and is part of the 69th Reconnaissance Group Detachment 1. Global Hawks do not have offensive capabilities. Its mission is to provide near real-time aerial imagery reconnaissance support to U.S. and partner nations, according to the base’s website. Four more Global Hawks are slated...

Five commando units trained for strikes, sabotage North Korea dispatched covert commando teams to the United States in the 1990s to attack nuclear power plants and major cities in a conflict, according to a declassified Defense Intelligence Agency report. The DIA report, dated Sept. 13, 2004, reveals that five units of covert commandos were trained for the attacks inside the country. According to the report, the “Reconnaissance Bureau, North Korea, had agents in place to attack American nuclear power plants.” The document states that the North Korean Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, the ministry in charge of the military, “established...

The U.S. Air Force is still mulling over whether to retire its fleet of F-15C/D Eagle fighter jets and re-equip those units with F-16C/D Vipers. At the same time, the service is looking to move ahead with an extensive F-16 overhaul, which could help tip the scales in favor of those aircraft. On April 12, 2017, Lockheed Martin, the company that makes the Vipers, announced the Air Force had decided to move ahead with a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) for a portion of its existing fleet. The project would give each of the modified jets approximately 4,000 extra flight...

FOX 5 DC‏Verified account @fox5dc 39s40 seconds ago #DEVELOPING: A military jet that left from Joint Base Andrews has crashed Clinton, Md. http://www.fox5dc.com/news/246616175-story … #fox5dc

Gun: fail. Flight: fail. Software: fail. Schedule: fail. Budget: fail. Plus 270 more fails... “The Services have designated 276 deficiencies in combat performance as “critical to correct” in Block 3F, but less than half of the critical deficiencies were addressed with attempted corrections in 3FR6”, the report states... The problem with the wing design makes the F-35 a challenge to fly at around the speed of sound: “All F-35 variants display objectionable or unacceptable flying qualities at transonic speeds, where aerodynamic forces on the aircraft are rapidly changing. Particularly, under elevated 'g' conditions, when wing loading causes the effects to...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., March 30, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — An open lesbian has been chosen to be the next commandant of the U.S. Air Force Academy, according to a USAF Academy report and other media. Col. Kristin Goodwin has a “wife” and two children. She will take charge of the USAF Academy pending approval by the U.S. Senate. If approved, she likely will assume her new position in May. That is usually a formality, but conservative opposition to her appointment might make it less so.

This startling news came during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the current state of the U.S. Air Force. Chairman Joe Wilson asked right out of the gate about a previously unknown USAF plan to retire the F-15C/D Eagle fleet and replace them with F-16s. The subject of the question itself seemed to be big news to the committee with Congresswoman Vikki Hartzler later asking about what upgrades the F-15C/D was going to get so it could meet modern threats. Obviously the answer is not many if the Air Force is going to retire the jets in the relatively...

According to a statement released by the Combined Joint Task Force, the anti-ISIS coalition conducted a total of 32 airstrikes on ISIS insurgents yesterday.23 of the sorties were conducted in Syria while air raids were especially intense over Raqqa. The statement continued to read that 10 strikes engaged seven ISIS tactical units, destroying three fighting positions, three technicals and destroying two bridges.US-led airstrikes were also conducted on Islamic State militants near Deir Ezzor and Palmyra, two cities that have Syrian government forces stationed nearby.No American airstrikes were conducted on ISIS militants at Al-Bab, suggesting some tension between the US and...

President Donald Trump is planning to nominate Heather Wilson as secretary of the Air Force. A White House statement said Monday that Wilson, a former New Mexico congresswoman and president of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, would be the first Air Force Academy graduate to hold the position, if confirmed. Wilson served in Congress from 1998 to 2009, where she was a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and chaired the House Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence.

President Trump has announced his pick for Secretary of the Air Force — former Rep. Heather Wilson. If confirmed, Wilson would be the first Air Force Academy graduate to hold the position, according to the White House. Wilson currently leads the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, a public college focused on engineering and science. She represented New Mexico in Congress from 1998 to 2009. "She served as an Air Force officer in Europe during the Cold War and on the National Security Council Staff under President George H.W. Bush during the fall of the Berlin Wall and the...

Possible shots fired... Shelter-in-place advisory

Davis-Monthan AFB ‏@DMAFB 23m23 minutes ago More The base is currently in lockdown. There are unconfirmed reports of gunshot sounds. Seek shelter immediately. More updates to come.

A pair of B-2 "stealth" bombers blasted two ISIS training camps in Libya on Wednesday evening, dropping 108 precision-guided bombs and sending jihadists scattering -- many of whom were then "cleaned up" by drone-launched hellfire missiles, U.S. defense officials told Fox News. The assault killed an estimated 85 terrorists at the camps, which were about 30 miles southwest of the Libyan coastal city of Sirte. President Obama authorized the action. Most of the terrorists targeted had escaped Sirte after extensive military actions there. U.S. drones "cleaned up" the operation by launching hellfire missiles that killed a several of ISIS fighters...

Alex LockieJanuary 11, 2017 USAF In another positive sign for the beloved A-10, Air Force maintainers at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona have outfitted the Warthog with an upgrade for combat search and rescue missions (CSAR). Dubbed the lightweight airborne recovery system, the upgrade helps A-10 pilots "communicate more effectively with individuals on the ground such as downed pilots, pararescuemen and joint terminal attack controllers," according to an Air Force statement. Of all the fixed-wing aircraft in the US Air Force's inventory, no plane carries out CSAR missions like the A-10. CSAR missions jump off with little warning and...

A U.S. pilot got into the Christmas spirit Sunday when he wore Santa Claus hats on his bombing runs against the Islamic State. The Department of Defense shared some photos of an F-16 Air Force pilot wearing the bright red cap most commonly associated with the present-delivering elf. One photo shows the pilot giving the cameraman a thumbs-up as he flies to deliver his payload. An F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot dons a red Santa hat as he flies to his target. Source: Senior Airman Tyler Woodward/U.S. Department of Defense Festive as the hat may have been, the pilot was still...