Lockheed Martin photograph by Todd McQueen The first MC-130J Commando II that will be converted to a new AC-130J gunship made its first flight at Marietta, Ga., this week. The MC-130J will have a Precision Strike Package installed, then will fly as a gunship in early 2014. The total requirement for new AC-130J gunships is…

The Navy’s fourth Fire Scout detachment returned to Mayport, Fla., Dec. 1, after achieving several milestones during its five-month deployment aboard USS Klakring (FFG 42). The Fire Scout unmanned helicopter detachment logged more than 500 flight hours in the U.S. Africa Command Area of Responsibility in support of anti-piracy operations and providing real-time intelligence, surveillance…

Lockheed Martin photograph The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II program surpassed 5,000 flight hours last month. This milestone was reached by the combined F-35 System Development and Demonstration aircraft flying at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., and the training aircraft flying at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. All…

The F-35 Lightning II Integrated Test Force accomplished another significant test milestone Dec. 3 when an F-35B successfully released another weapon in flight. BF-3, a short take off and vertical landing variant of the F-35, released an inert 500-pound GBU-12 Paveway II Laser Guided Bomb over water in the Atlantic Test Ranges while traveling at…

Boeing photograph Boeing reached a record for year-to-date 737 deliveries with the Dec. 3 delivery of the 377th Next-Generation 737. The delivery of the airplane, a 737-900ER (Extended Range) with Boeing Sky Interior for United Airlines, topped the previous record of 376 deliveries set in 2010. In October, the 737 also broke its own record…

Looking skyward, scientists worldwide now know the universe’s size, composition, approximate age and rate of expansion, thanks in part to “essential” data derived from a time-sensitive test conducted at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex’s Mark 1 Aerospace Space Chamber. On June 30, 2001, a Delta II launch vehicle carried NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe on…

Space and Missile Systems Center Commander Lt. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski accepted the donation of the Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy from Dr. Bradford Parkinson on behalf of SMC and the GPS Directorate at a special ceremony held at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., Nov. 30. Parkinson and the “GPS Originators” were awarded the…

Deep inside the factory where Patriot defense systems are made, Ken Arruda stopped beside a rolling cart and pointed to a white card sprinkled with what looked like grains of sand. They were computer chips for the Patriotís radar system ñ parts that since 2006 have shrunk to one-eighth their previous size. ìNow theyíre as…

The Oregon National Guard signed a pact with Vietnam as part of the State Partnership Program during a Nov. 27 ceremony in Hanoi.

The F-35 integrated test force aboard Naval Air Station Patuxent River completed a weapons ejection milestone for the Lightning II carrier variant on Nov. 28. CF-2, the second F-35C test aircraft, ejected a 2,000-pound inert GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition and a 500-pound GBU-12 Paveway II Laser Guided Bomb from an internal weapons bay into…