Tag Archives: NAVAIR

Navy Issues Boeing $200M Long-lead Super Hornet Award Ahead of Planned 20 Fighter Award

Navy Issues Boeing $200M Long-lead Super Hornet Award Ahead of Planned 20 Fighter Award

An F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to the ‘Fighting Checkmates’ of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 211, launches from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) on Aug. 24, 2022. US Navy Photo

This post has been updated with a statement from Boeing.

The Navy issued Boeing $200 million to keep its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet production line humming ahead of a congressionally mandated 20 fighter buy, USNI News has learned. Read More

MQ-25A Stingray IOC Pushed to 2026 Following Manufacturing Delays

MQ-25A Stingray IOC Pushed to 2026 Following Manufacturing Delays

Sailor repositions a Boeing unmanned MQ-25 aircraft on the flight deck aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77). US Navy Photo

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Production delays to manufacture Boeing’s MQ-25A Stingray pushed its initial operational capability by a year, the head program executive in charge of Navy unmanned aerial systems said Monday. Read More

Navy Questions Future Viability of Super Hornets; Recommends Against New Buy

Navy Questions Future Viability of Super Hornets; Recommends Against New Buy

F/A-18F Super Hornets, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 41, fly over the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) in the Atlantic Ocean, May 9, 2019. US Navy Photo

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — If Congress mandates the Navy keep buying the current F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, the airframes will be in the fleet into the 2050s. But by then, the fourth-generation fighters likely couldn’t stand up to future threats, a service official said Tuesday. Read More

Marine Corps Conducting Fleet Flight Tests of CH-53K Ahead of IOT&E This Summer

Marine Corps Conducting Fleet Flight Tests of CH-53K Ahead of IOT&E This Summer

CH-53K, K3, piloted by Mr. Rob Pupalaikis and Maj. Joshua Foxton, flies an aerial refueling test with an external load on Sept. 28, 2020, from NAS Patuxent River, MD. Sikorsky Photo.

Operational test Marines have begun flying the new CH-53K ahead of this summer’s planned test event to bring the heavy lift helicopter to initial operational capability, the Navy’s program manager said today. Read More

Last Piece of CH-53K Helicopter Trainer Triad Declared 'Ready for Training'

Last Piece of CH-53K Helicopter Trainer Triad Declared ‘Ready for Training’

Marine Corps aviators in the CH-53K Containerized Flight Training Device (CFTD) experience a highly immersive virtual environment. Sikorsky photo.

The final of three CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter trainers has been declared “ready for training,” and an industry/government team next month will begin training the squadron that will conduct the new helo’s initial operational test and evaluation. Read More