Air Force
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FAA's NOTAM computer outage affected military flights
According to a new report from The Washington Post, issues also started popping up in tools used by US military pilots after FAA contractors triggered the database failure that delayed 11,000 flights.
USAF looks into commercial rocket-powered cargo delivery
The US military is expanding an experimental program that could one day see the Space Force use reusable rockets to move material and equipment across the planet.
The first flight unit comprised of Space Force Guardians has completed basic training
The first flight comprised entirely of US Space Force Guardians recently graduated from Air Force Basic Military Training.
Boeing's F-15EX with 'digital backbone' completes its first test flight
This week, Boeing’s F-15EX fighter jet successfully completed its first-ever test flight.
AI controlled a US military aircraft for the first time
AI has controlled a US military aircraft for the first time, serving as a co-pilot aboard a U-2 spy plane in a milestone test for the Air Force.
Army pauses recruiting on Twitch after First Amendment criticism
The US Army has paused activity on its Twitch account after drawing criticism from First Amendment groups for banning a user who asked about war crimes during a livestream. The user, activist Jordan Uhl, subsequently wrote an article for The Nation criticizing the Army, Navy and Air Force for using Twitch as a recruitment method. Wednesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Vice she plans to file a measure that would prevent the military from using Twitch and similar platforms for recruiting.
The US Air Force is preparing a human versus AI dogfight
The US Air Force wants to pit an autonomous fighter drone against a pilot.
X-37B space plane launches on its most ambitious mission to date
The X-37B space plane has launched carrying its most experiments ever -- and an endurance record to challenge.
Air Force's mysterious X-37B space plane heads back to orbit May 16th
The US Air Force's X-37B space plane is heading back to Low Earth Orbit after a record-breaking fifth mission last year.
US Space Force logo unveiled with a clear Star Trek influence
The president has been pushing to create a new military branch, dubbed Space Force, since 2018 and today tweeted out a logo for the department. The most noticeable part of the logo is right in the center, where a design that closely resembles Star Trek's arrowhead-style Starfleet insignia sits.
Nearly the whole US military has banned TikTok
When the Army, Marines and Navy all put the kibosh on TikTok, you knew it was just a matter of time before other US military branches followed suit -- and sure enough, they have. The Air Force and Coast Guard have confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that they no longer allow TikTok on government-issued devices. It's not yet clear that the ban is truly comprehensive (the recently established Space Force hasn't weighed in), but it effectively leaves no 'safe' space for TikTok on military hardware.
Air Force's X-37B space plane lands after record 780 days in orbit
There was no doubt that the US Air Force's X-37B was going to break its own record for time spent in orbit, but it's now clear by how much. The mysterious Boeing-made space plane has landed at Kennedy Space Center after 780 days in orbit, comfortably surpassing the earlier record of 717 days, 20 hours and 42 minutes. That's more than three times the 240 days originally expected from the reusable vehicle, which just finished its fifth mission.
The Trump Administration just revived the Cold War-era Space Command
Today, President Trump and Vice President Pence announced the return of the US Space Command -- a Cold War-era division of the Air Force that's been on a 17-year hiatus. The revival of the US Space Command is meant to "ensure the protection of America's interests in space," Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at a news conference Wednesday. But it could be confused with Space Force -- the sixth branch of the military that Trump hopes to create -- or the existing Air Force Space Command, which focuses on Air Force operations in space.
The Air Force’s secret space plane sets a new record: 718 days in orbit
The U.S. Air Force's X-37B space plane has been orbiting Earth since September 7th, 2017, crossing the 718 day mark and breaking its previous record of 717 days, 20 hours and 42 minutes in flight. While little is known about the classified X-37B, we do know that it's able to stay in operation for such long stretches of time thanks in part to its solar panels and a lack of a human crew.
SpaceX sues over 'wrongly awarded' Air Force rocket contracts
To say that SpaceX was unhappy with losing out on the US Air Force's rocket development contracts would be an understatement. The company has sued the US government under claims that the Air Force "wrongly awarded" contracts to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and United Launch Alliance. The military branch handed out offers to the competition despite their "unproven rockets" and "unstated metrics," while allegedly ignoring SpaceX's own real-world record. The company had completed numerous missions with its Falcon rockets, according to the lawsuit, but was deemed "highest risk" because of its largely untested Starship.
The Air Force is exploring AI-powered autonomous drones
The Air Force wants to see if AI-powered autonomous drones can help human pilots better perform their mission. In a press release, the Air Force said it was seeking input from the tech industry in a new AI initiative for autonomous drones it calls Skyborg. Still in its planning stages, the Air Force is looking for market research and concept of operations analysis for Skyborg to get a sense of what technologies are out there for such a fleet. It is seeking to launch protoypes of the autonomous drones as early as 2023.
Air Force's mysterious space drone returns after two years in orbit
Following its longest-ever mission by far, the 11,000 pound X-37B unmanned spacecraft has returned to Earth bearing... well, we don't actually know. You see, after NASA and Boeing developed the craft (about a fifth the size of the Space Shuttle), it bounced over to the Air Force, which is using it for top-secret missions. The X-37B's longest previous flight lasted about 15 months, and this time, it stayed in orbit just shy of two years. As for what it was doing up there, exactly, cue the speculation. Some experts think it was launching spy gear from the pickup-bed-sized payload bay, while others believe it was designed to capture or impair enemy satellites. The Air Force denies all that, saying it was just testing space tech like advanced guidance, robotic systems and autonomous orbital flight. It certainly nailed the latter -- with no human at the controls, the X-37B made a perfect touchdown following a 218 mile-high descent. To see it, check the all-too-brief video below. [Image credit: Boeing]
Elon Musk blames bribery for Air Force awarding rocket contract to a competitor
Remember that Air Force rocket contract Elon Musk was so peeved about? If you don't, let's recap: without accepting other bids, the Air Force awarded an exclusive deal to a company called United Launch Alliance that covers some 36 rocket launches -- launches Musk and his company SpaceX believed they were in line to compete for. Tonight in a series of tweets, Musk pointed out an article from The National Legal and Policy Center calling out the Air Force official in charge of the deal, Roger Correll, for taking a job with one of ULA's suppliers. Musk makes the accusation clear, saying "V likely AF official Correll was told by ULA/Rocketdyne that a rich VP job was his if he gave them a sole source contract. Reason I believe this is likely is that Correll first tried to work at SpaceX, but we turned him down. Our competitor, it seems, did not."
Self-healing plastic bleeds when cut, and that's a good thing
Wouldn't it be great if everything was as good at healing itself as our own skin? That's the concept behind a new self-healing plastic that's been developed over at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Unlike ordinary plastics, this one contains a thin network of tubes, aping the human vascular system, containing two separate gels that react when they come into contact with each other. When the surface of the plastic is punctured, for instance if shot by a bullet, the two gels pour out, mixing to form a surface roughly 60 percent as strong as the original -- just like a blood clot would on our bodies.
Boeing tests microwave missile that knocks out electronics, represents our worst nightmare (video)
Forget bombs or the robopocalypse. In our minds, the most fearsome weapon is the one that disables our gadgets. That's what makes Boeing's newly tested Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) scarier than most projectiles. The missile bombards targets underneath with microwaves that shut down computers, power systems and just about anything electrical in their path. Thankfully, CHAMP's invisible payload arrives in discrete bursts and arguably makes it the world's most advanced (and likely expensive) non-lethal weapon: the prototype can target multiple individual buildings without ever having to detonate and hurt someone. Boeing is still developing CHAMP in a multi-year program and doesn't have guarantees that it will become military ordnance, which gives us enough time to accept that saving lives is far, far more important than the risk we'll have to stop fiddling with our technology.
