Air Force general vows to protect quality of weapons work The commander of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., says budget cuts are hitting the Albuquerque installation’s staff and operations but that the safety, security and reliability of the weapons themselves won’t be affected. Maj. Gen. Sandra Finan says…

Navy photograph RQ-21A Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System in flight after launching from USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) in February 2013. The Department of the Navy recently announced that the unmanned air system received Milestone C approval authorizing the start of low rate initial production. The Department of the Navy announced May 15 that the…

Lockheed Martin photograph by Tom Reynolds The F-35 Integrated Test Force is completing a series of night flights, testing the ability to fly the jet safely in instrument meteorological conditions where the pilot has no external visibility references. The ITF, which has the lead on all F-35 mission systems testing, is responsible for five of…

BINGEN, Wash., May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Insitu announced May 23 that RQ-21A reached Milestone C under the Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System contract with Naval Air Systems Command. The achievement will enable the program to transition from the Engineering, Manufacturing and Development phase to a Low Rate Initial Production phase and enter initial operational…

Northrop Grumman has signed a U.S. Department of Defense mentor-protÈgÈ agreement with Davidson Technologies, a teammate on Northrop Grumman’s Joint National Integration Center Research and Development Contract. Under the JRDC, Northrop Grumman has led a world-class team to conduct ballistic missile defense system-level modeling and simulation, ground and flight test, war game, training exercise, mission-critical…

The Ring Nebula’s distinctive shape makes it a popular illustration for astronomy books. But new observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the glowing gas shroud around an old, dying, sun-like star reveal a new twist. “The nebula is not like a bagel, but rather, it’s like a jelly doughnut, because it’s filled with material…

President Barack Obama May 23 vowed to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying the prison has become a symbol of an America that flouts the law. Obama spoke at the National Defense University at Fort Lesley J. McNair here. His discussion on the Gitmo facility was part of a larger discussion on…

Russia’s top military officer May 22 voiced skepticism about deeper nuclear arms cuts, saying they should require parallel reductions in non-nuclear precision weapons. The statement by chief of Russia’s military General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, appeared to signal the Kremlin’s reluctance to negotiate a new nuclear arms deal with Washington. President Barack Obama, who signed…

When soldiers and aircraft deploy in any part of the world, air traffic control operations become one of the most important functions to ensure that all aircraft supporting military operations maintain safe, orderly and expeditious flow of air traffic. The Mobile Tower System, or MOTS, provides the effective and reliable solution that can be deployed…

The Royal Netherlands Air Force has contracted Raytheon) to upgrade four additional Airport Surveillance Radar sites following the successful implementation of the first Wind Farm Mitigation upgrade at RNLAF’s Woensdrecht Air Base. The upgrade includes technology enhancements, including WiMax interference filtering (4G filtration), and should be completed within the next 12-15 months. Wind turbines’ rotating…