U.S. ground forces detect an enemy unmanned aircraft performing reconnaissance over their forward operating base. Now the soldiers must determine how to neutralize the Unmanned Aerial System threat: whether to jam the electronic signal from its ground controller, kill the ground controller or shoot down the Unmanned Aerial System, or UAS. This is a possible…

J-2X Powerpack Completes Testing NASA Dec. 13 took another step toward human exploration of new destinations in the solar system. At the agency’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, engineers conducted the final test-firing of the J-2X powerpack assembly, an important component of America’s next heavy-lift rocket. The J-2X engine is the first human-rated liquid oxygen…

Department of Defense officials announced Dec. 13 that Lajes Field will transition from an air base wing to an air base group with a reduction of more than 400 military personnel and 500 family members by the end of fiscal year 2014. “The drawdown of the 65th Air Base Wing is part of a larger…

Boeing demonstrated affordable unmanned aircraft technology Dec. 13 that could be integrated onto Republic of Korea Army MD 500 helicopters to expand the fleet’s mission capabilities. A Boeing Unmanned Little Bird demonstrator aircraft, a variant of the highly successful MD 500 helicopter, autonomously flew for approximately 25 minutes at the ROKA Aviation School in Nonsan….

Bell-Boeing photograph Aircraft 209, the fourth MV-22 to be assigned to the Presidential Support Squadron awaits attachment of the tail empennage (painted the iconic dark green of the squadron) on the Bell V-22 assembly plant production floor in Amarillo, Texas, Dec. 1. The first MV-22 is on schedule to be delivered to Marine Helicopter Squadron…

After spending time with U.S. troops and officials in Kuwait, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta landed in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 12 to thank troops for their exceptional service, especially during the holidays when it’s harder to be far from family and friends.

Lockheed Martin photograph Marine Corps test pilot Maj. C. R. Clift flies BF-1 on a short take off and vertical landing mode mission, Dec. 7. The flight marked the 1,000th developmental test flight for the F-35B Lightning II in the programís system development and demonstration phase. The F-35B is the Lightning II variant designed for…

Lockheed Martin photograph Aircraft CF-5, flown by Navy test pilot Lt. Cmdr. Michael Burks, takes off from the F-35 Lightning II manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, Dec. 11. The aircraft, which arrived at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., the same day, is the final permanently assigned F-35C for the Integrated Test Force at…

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. ó Marines in Afghanistan witnessed AAI Corp.ís Aerosonde Unmanned Air System first flight Dec. 2. under NAVAIRís Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance services contract. AAI field services representatives conducted the nearly 10-hour mission and provided real-time full-motion video to Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 3. Under ISR services,…

Lockheed Martin photograph by Todd McQueen Lockheed Martin an MC-130J Commando II to Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., Dec. 10. Aircraft 5710 is the 12th of 27 MC-130Js to be assigned to the Air Force Special Operations Command. The squadron uses the Commando II on missions such as in-flight refueling, infiltration/exfiltration, and aerial delivery and…