Air Force photograph by Don Branum Retired Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, right, talks to Cadet 1st Class Henry Egan after a National Character and Leadership Symposium presentation at the Air Force Academy Feb. 22, 2013. Yeager was the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound, having made the historic flight Oct. 14,…

NASA image courtesy of Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio Of the 10 million square miles (26 million square kilometers) of northern vegetated lands, 34 to 41 percent showed increases in plant growth (green and blue), 3 to 5 percent showed decreases in plant growth (orange and red), and 51 to 62 percent showed…

Joint STARS recently became the first Air Force airborne system to fully retrofit new terminals that will improve war fighter communication.

Air Force photograph by TSgt. Jeremy Call, New York Air National Guard ROME, N.Y. – NORAD air defense operators conduct their daily air sovereignty mission at the Eastern Air Defense Sector last summer. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Hanscom recently fielded Increment 3, Release 3.2 of the Battle Control System-Fixed that is used…

BAE Systems has been awarded a $20 million contract to develop an advanced prototype system that detects mines and obstacles in near-shore waters for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. As part of the Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis program, the laser-based airborne system will provide 24-hour capability to ensure our troopsí safe transition from…

ATK has successfully completed its solid rocket booster Preliminary Design Review with NASA for the new Space Launch System. The PDR milestone indicates the booster design is on track to support first flight of the SLS in 2017. The SLS vehicle will support NASA’s human spaceflight exploration to all destinations beyond low-earth orbit. “This is…

Air Force photograph by Bobbi Zapka The X-51A Waverider flew its fourth and final mission May 1 over the Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range, during which the test team achieved a record- setting 210 seconds of air-breathing hypersonic flight. Flight testers from Edwards played a vital role in the program’s success. When…

A Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental successfully completed its first test flight this week with a package of performance improvements including enhanced GE engines. This package is designed to improve the fuel efficiency of the popular jetliner.

A Lockheed Martin-led industry team has completed successful functional integration tests of the spacecraft bus and network communications equipment on the first satellite of the next generation Global Positioning System, known as GPS III. The recent testing of GPS III space vehicle 1 (SV 1) bus ñ the portion of the space vehicle that carries…

Boeing subcontractor, Air France Industries, has begun upgrading the electrical, mechanical and structural systems and mission hardware of the first of four French E-3F Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft.