Defense Systems

AF IT Day: Lt. Gen. Basla says operational rules on horizon

The Air Force needs to work out what its missions and responsibilities are in cyberspace, a top service official said Oct. 11.

Defense Systems

Air Force launches third GPS Block IIF satellite

The Air Force successfully launched the third Global Positioning System IIF satellite on Oct. 4 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV-Medium rocket, the service said.

Defense Systems

Air Force wants better knowledge of high-altitude airborne LIDAR capabilities

The Air Force is seeking white papers that would help it determine the capabilities of industry to produce Airborne Light Detection and Ranging systems and products and determine a forward path for expanded use of the technology in tactical and strategic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Defense Systems

AF to base first 'Space Fence' facility in Pacific

The Air Force will establish a Space Fence radar site on Kwajalein Island in the Republic of the Marshall Islands that will begin operating in fiscal 2017.

Defense Systems

Northrop wins Air Force contract for airborne comms node

The Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract modification to add beyond-line-of-sight command and control capabilities to the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node information gateway system.

Defense Systems

Air Force plans robust competition for small launches

The Air Force has decided that all of the bidders that applied for the Orbital/Suborbital Program-3 contract will be eligible to compete.

Defense Systems

Intel community must find more efficient ways to process data, says ISR chief

The entire intelligence community needs to find more efficient methods to process ISR data into decision-making information for joint warfighters, says Lt. Gen. Larry James.

Defense Systems

Next-gen GPS III satellites undergo first readiness test

The contractors that will deliver the Air Force’s next generation GPS III satellites report that they have finished the first launch readiness exercise on the road to achieving launch availability in 2014, Lockheed Martin said in a Sept. 5 news release.

Defense Systems

Cyber Command inches closer to unified command

The U.S. Cyber Command might become a unified combatant command in the foreseeable future.

Defense Systems

Air Force steps up cyber weapons development

The Air Force has issued a request for proposals for assistance with cyber weapons.

Defense Systems

Air Force presses surveillance satellite into full service

The Air Force said Aug. 20 that it would begin operational use of a new Boeing surveillance satellite designed to track debris and other satellites in space.

Defense Systems

Air Force adds UAVs to combat exercises

The Air Force has added MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicles to its top combat exercise as it prepares to experiment with news ways to conduct air campaigns in future years in contested air space.

Defense Systems

Air Force wants smart software for ISR analysis

The Air Force wants software that can help analysts identify targets from an unconnected patchwork of high-and-low resolution imagery data.

Defense Systems

Military services mull future of large UAVs

For manufacturers of large unmanned aerial vehicles, there was only a hazy picture of what direction that market will take at the recent Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International's Unmanned Systems North America 2012 conference.

Defense Systems

Air Force consolidates cyber/IT operations to improve performance

Maj. Gen. Craig Olson, PEO, Air Force Business and Enterprise Systems, on transition of the BES portfolio to his successor, and his new position as head of the Air Force's Command, Control and Communications Information and Networks program executive office.

Defense Systems

Air Force plans acquisition shakeup post-Afghanistan

Noting that some of the key Air Force systems used over Iraq and Afghanistan would be vulnerable in a hotly contested environment such as the Pacific theater, the military service is focusing on acquiring more stealthy aircraft systems in the months and years ahead.

Defense Systems

Air Force wants collision-avoidance technology for drones

The Air Force is seeking information on industry qualifications and capability concepts as a precursor to issuing a request for proposals for its Airborne Sense and Avoid Program for unmanned aircraft.

Defense Systems

AF Weapons School grads part of military's cyber elite

In June a half dozen airmen graduated from a cyber warfare course taught by the Air Force's elite Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base.

Defense Systems

AF extends airborne comms relay program in Afghanistan

The Air Force on June 27 awarded a $782 million sole-source contract to Northrop Grumman to continue supporting a key airborne communications relay system in Afghanistan through September 2015.

Defense Systems

Air Force picks 12 small businesses for NetCents-2 services

The NetCents 2 Small Business Companion contract is the first of two Application Services contracts that will be available to the Air Force.