The Air Force’s premier fighter, the F-35 Lightning II, surpassed its 500th sortie only 16 days after reaching the 400 mark and only 238 days from the beginning of the program. Maj. Matthew Johnston of the 58th Fighter Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., completed the 500th combined sortie for both the F-35A and…

Boeing and Guggenheim Aviation Partners announced an agreement Nov. 7 for Boeing to convert three 767-300ER passenger airplanes to freighters. The Boeing Converted Freighters will be delivered to Guggenheim Aviation Partners in 2013. Boeing will manage and engineer the project with the actual conversion taking place at ST Aerospace’s subsidiary, ST Aviation Services Company in…

Boeing photograph The Royal Australian Air Force’s Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Brown, met with Gary Ervin, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, and Michelle Scarpella, vice president of the F-35 program for Northrop Grumman, during a visit to Northrop Grumman’s F-35 Lightning II production facility in Palmdale, Calif….

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., Nov. 5, 2012 – The Integrated Test Force (ITF) here completed its 500th combined sortie for both the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) and F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft Friday. Flight operations for the F-35 began on the Emerald Coast March 6. There are currently 22…

Boeing on Nov. 2 delivered the fifth production P-8A Poseidon aircraft to the U.S. Navy. The P-8A is one of 24 low-rate initial production maritime patrol aircraft that Boeing is building for the Navy as part of contracts awarded in 2011 and 2012. “This is our final P-8A delivery of the year; we’ll ramp up…

Army photograph by SFC Lori A. Kuczmanski Sgt. Matthew Hyland, imagery analyst with Company A, Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, watches live video feed from a Predator Unmanned Aeriel Vehicle flying high above the desert skies during Network Integration Evaluation 13.1, Oct. 24, 2012. The Air Force flew the aircraft…

Boeing and Kuwait airplane leasing company ALAFCO have finalized an order for 20 Boeing 737 MAX 8s valued at $2.0 billion at current list price. The order was first announced as a commitment at the Farnborough Airshow in July. “This is the first order for the 737 MAX from the Middle East, which is one…

NASA photograph by Carla Thomas The upgraded X-48C version of Boeing’s Blending Wing Body subscale research aircraft banks over Rogers Dry Lake near “Contractors’ Row” at Edwards Air Force Base during a test flight Oct. 16, 2012. Combined with the earlier X-48B version, the X-48 technology demonstrator has now flown 100 test missions, more than…

For more than nine minutes Oct. 14, an international audience watched as Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner egressed from a capsule 128,000 feet above the earth and fell toward the planet reaching speeds of 834 miles per hour, to become the first person to break the sound barrier outside of a vehicle. When Baumgartner safely touched…

Boeing photograph Boeing delivered the 7,370th 737 to come off the production line to Indonesia-based Lion Air Nov. 5. The airplane is Lion Air’s 75th Next-Generation 737. The Boeing 737 is the best-selling commercial jetliner of all time with total orders exceeding 10,100 airplanes, including orders for the new 737 MAX.