Ryan McCarthy, secretary of the U.S. Army, joined senior officials of the military service and industry representatives during a demonstration of a tiltrotor aircraft Textron's Bell subsidiary developed for the branch's Future Vertical Lift program.
Read More »Army OKs Capabilities Document for Future Vertical Lift Program
The U.S. Army has approved the draft of a capabilities development document for assault helicopters intended to support the service branch's Future Vertical Lift program, DefenseNews reported Wednesday. The Army seeks to purchase and field two long-range assault aircraft units to replace its AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk fleet.
Read More »Brig. Gen. Laura Yeager to Lead Army 40th Infantry Division
Brig. Gen. Laura Yeager, commander of the Joint Task Force North within Northern Command, will assume command of the U.S. Army’s 40th infantry division on June 29, The Orange County Register reported Thursday. She will succeed the retiring Maj. Gen. Mark Malanka during a ceremony at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, Calif later this month.
Read More »Senate OKs FY 2019 Minibus Spending Measure With Over $670B for DoD
The Senate voted 93-7 on Tuesday to pass a negotiated package that would allocate over $850B in fiscal 2019 funds for the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor and Education, Stars and Stripes reported Tuesday. The decision came days after congressional negotiators reached a compromise on the appropriations package.
Army Plans to Demonstrate Manned-Unmanned Aircraft Teaming; Layne Merritt Comments
The U.S. Army will possibly conduct a demonstration in late summer or early fall this year that involves launching an autonomous aircraft from a rotary-wing platform, Defense News reported Tuesday. The service plans to deploy Area-I’s Air-Launched, Tube-Integrated Unmanned System or ALTIUS from a UH-60 Black Hawk aircraft to provide …
Read More »DoD to Get $654.6B Under $1.3T Omnibus Spending Bill
Congressional leaders have introduced an omnibus bill that would authorize $1.3 trillion to fund government operations through the end of fiscal 2018, Defense News reported Thursday. The omnibus package would allocate $654.6 billion in funds for the Defense Department, including a base budget of $589.5 billion and overseas contingency operations …
Read More »Report: Pentagon’s DOT&E Reviews Army Helicopter Countermeasures Tech
The Defense Department‘s Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation has evaluated the performance of a directional infrared countermeasures technology installed on U.S. Army helicopters, The Drive reported Thursday. DOT&E found that the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasure technology, built by Northrop Grumman, did not perform well in “theater” operations due to …
Read More »Sen. Thad Cochran Proposes $650.7B Defense Spending Package
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R- Mississippi) has proposed a defense policy bill that would allocate $581.3 billion in base budget, $64.9 billion in overseas contingency operations funds and $4.5 billion in emergency missile defense funds for fiscal year 2018, Defense News reported Tuesday. Cochran on Tuesday introduced the draft …
Read More »Iowa Army Natl Guard Pilots Train on UH-60 Flight Simulator at Camp Dodge
The Iowa Army National Guard’s UH-60 helicopter pilots and crew members have trained on an updated home-station flight training system at the Camp Dodge Joint Maneuver Training Center in Johnston, Iowa. The Black Hawk Aircrew Trainer is designed to help pilots operate the Sikorsky-built utility helicopter under adverse weather conditions, cloud cover, icing and enemy fires, the …
Read More »Air Mobility Command Deploys Helicopters to Support Operation Atlantic Resolve
The U.S. Air Force‘s Air Mobility Command has transported AH-64 Apache helicopters to Ramstein Air Base in Germany as part of a U.S.-led effort to help NATO allies maintain peace and stability in the Atlantic region. The U.S. European Command said Wednesday that C-5 Galaxy aircraft delivered AH-64 units to Ramstein AB and will also deliver UH-60 …
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